WorldWideScience

Sample records for schools facing increased

  1. Face-to-face versus computer-mediated communication in a primary school setting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijden, H.A.T. van der; Veenman, S.A.M.

    2005-01-01

    Computer-mediated communication is increasingly being used to support cooperative problem solving and decision making in schools. Despite the large body of literature on cooperative or collaborative learning, few studies have explicitly compared peer learning in face-to-face (FTF) versus

  2. Problems Facing Rural Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, C. E.; And Others

    Problems facing rural Scottish schools range from short term consideration of daily operation to long term consideration of organizational alternatives. Addressed specifically, such problems include consideration of: (1) liaison between a secondary school and its feeder primary schools; (2) preservice teacher training for work in small, isolated…

  3. High-resolution measurements of face-to-face contact patterns in a primary school.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliette Stehlé

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Little quantitative information is available on the mixing patterns of children in school environments. Describing and understanding contacts between children at school would help quantify the transmission opportunities of respiratory infections and identify situations within schools where the risk of transmission is higher. We report on measurements carried out in a French school (6-12 years children, where we collected data on the time-resolved face-to-face proximity of children and teachers using a proximity-sensing infrastructure based on radio frequency identification devices. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data on face-to-face interactions were collected on Thursday, October 1(st and Friday, October 2(nd 2009. We recorded 77,602 contact events between 242 individuals (232 children and 10 teachers. In this setting, each child has on average 323 contacts per day with 47 other children, leading to an average daily interaction time of 176 minutes. Most contacts are brief, but long contacts are also observed. Contacts occur mostly within each class, and each child spends on average three times more time in contact with classmates than with children of other classes. We describe the temporal evolution of the contact network and the trajectories followed by the children in the school, which constrain the contact patterns. We determine an exposure matrix aimed at informing mathematical models. This matrix exhibits a class and age structure which is very different from the homogeneous mixing hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: We report on important properties of the contact patterns between school children that are relevant for modeling the propagation of diseases and for evaluating control measures. We discuss public health implications related to the management of schools in case of epidemics and pandemics. Our results can help define a prioritization of control measures based on preventive measures, case isolation, classes and school closures, that

  4. Health Risks Faced by Public School Band Directors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woolery, Danielle N.; Woolery, Jesse A.

    2013-01-01

    Public school band directors face many work-related hazards in their grueling, yet rewarding job. As a school year progresses, directors are expected to work long hours, while trying to balance professional and personal responsibilities. A band director whose career spans multiple decades can potentially face a number of serious medical problems.…

  5. Learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation theory with face-to-face versus audiovisual instruction for secondary school students: a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cerezo Espinosa, Cristina; Nieto Caballero, Sergio; Juguera Rodríguez, Laura; Castejón-Mochón, José Francisco; Segura Melgarejo, Francisca; Sánchez Martínez, Carmen María; López López, Carmen Amalia; Pardo Ríos, Manuel

    2018-02-01

    To compare secondary students' learning of basic life support (BLS) theory and the use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) through face-to-face classroom instruction versus educational video instruction. A total of 2225 secondary students from 15 schools were randomly assigned to one of the following 5 instructional groups: 1) face-to-face instruction with no audiovisual support, 2) face-to-face instruction with audiovisual support, 3) audiovisual instruction without face-to-face instruction, 4) audiovisual instruction with face-to-face instruction, and 5) a control group that received no instruction. The students took a test of BLS and AED theory before instruction, immediately after instruction, and 2 months later. The median (interquartile range) scores overall were 2.33 (2.17) at baseline, 5.33 (4.66) immediately after instruction (Paudiovisual instruction for learning BLS and AED theory were found in secondary school students either immediately after instruction or 2 months later.

  6. Elementary Schools, Teaching, and Social Studies in Texas: Facing the Great Depression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellows, M. Elizabeth; Baumi, Michelle; Field, Sherry L.

    2013-01-01

    Across the United States, the Great Depression was a period of tremendous upheaval. Economic, family, political, and educational institutions shook mightily as the tremors of widespread financial downturn were felt. Public schools faced increasing hardships, which included financial problems such as a weakened tax base due to the non-payment of…

  7. Small prizes increased healthful school lunch selection in a Midwestern school district.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegel, Robert; Lockhart, Mary Kate; Barnes, Allison S; Hiller, Elizabeth; Kipp, Roger; Robison, Debora L; Ellsworth, Samantha C; Hudgens, Michelle E

    2016-04-01

    As obesity has become a pressing health issue for American children, greater attention has been focused on how schools can be used to improve how students eat. Previously, we piloted the use of small prizes in an elementary school cafeteria to improve healthful food selection. We hoped to increase healthful food selection in all the elementary schools of a small school district participating in the United States Department of Agriculture Lunch Program by offering prizes to children who selected a Power Plate (PP), which consisted of an entrée with whole grains, a fruit, a vegetable, and plain low-fat milk. In this study, the PP program was introduced to 3 schools sequentially over an academic year. During the kickoff week, green, smiley-faced emoticons were placed by preferred foods, and children were given a prize daily if they chose a PP on that day. After the first week, students were given a sticker or temporary tattoo 2 days a week if they selected a PP. Combining data from the 3 schools in the program, students increased PP selection from 4.5% at baseline to 49.4% (p small prizes as rewards dramatically improves short-term healthful food selection in elementary school children.

  8. INCREASING DIVERSITY IN OUR SCHOOLS OF NURSING.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neubrander, Judy; Metcalfe, Sharon E

    2016-01-01

    This article will review one school's quest to address the multi-level social, historical, environmental and structural determinants faced by under-represented ethnic minorities (UREM) and disadvantaged background (DB) students as they seek entrance into a nursing program. Nursing Network Careers and Technology (NN-CAT) provides a nursing career network for underrepresented and disadvantaged students in western North Carolina and has increased the number of underrepresented and disadvantaged students who are admitted, retained and graduate with a bachelor's degree in nursing from Western Carolina University. Initial data from this NN-CAT program have demonstrated that addressing social determinants and eliminating barriers can increase the number of UREM and educationally disadvantaged students who successfully matriculate in our schools of Nursing and subsequently graduate. These nurses then enter the workforce and provide culturally meaningful care in their local communities.

  9. Face inversion increases attractiveness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leder, Helmut; Goller, Juergen; Forster, Michael; Schlageter, Lena; Paul, Matthew A

    2017-07-01

    Assessing facial attractiveness is a ubiquitous, inherent, and hard-wired phenomenon in everyday interactions. As such, it has highly adapted to the default way that faces are typically processed: viewing faces in upright orientation. By inverting faces, we can disrupt this default mode, and study how facial attractiveness is assessed. Faces, rotated at 90 (tilting to either side) and 180°, were rated on attractiveness and distinctiveness scales. For both orientations, we found that faces were rated more attractive and less distinctive than upright faces. Importantly, these effects were more pronounced for faces rated low in upright orientation, and smaller for highly attractive faces. In other words, the less attractive a face was, the more it gained in attractiveness by inversion or rotation. Based on these findings, we argue that facial attractiveness assessments might not rely on the presence of attractive facial characteristics, but on the absence of distinctive, unattractive characteristics. These unattractive characteristics are potentially weighed against an individual, attractive prototype in assessing facial attractiveness. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Implementation Issues in Multicultural Education: What Are Secondary Public School Educators Facing?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LaVonne Fedynich

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This mixed method study sought to explore the issues that faced secondary teachers in a rural central Georgia public high school when attempting to implement a multicultural education program.  The key issues of this study centered on the teachers’ multicultural education training and the school’s multicultural education program. Data were gathered from a total of thirty randomly chosen teachers in the Social Studies, Math and English departments at the school. Twenty-five of the thirty teachers received a hard copy four question Likert scale survey to complete. The remaining 5 participants took part in face-to-face interviews discussing six open-ended questions.  The findings pointed to several issues facing the teachers such as the lack of an officially implemented multicultural education program, the lack of support from school administrators, no in-service training available for teachers, parental and student misapprehension, and a lack of an officially defined policy on implementation and support of a multicultural education program from administrators locally and district-wide.

  11. Challenges facing primary school educators of English Second (or ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ESOL) learners identified by educators as having language disorders and being referred for Speech-Language Therapy. We describe challenges faced by Grade 1, 2 and 3 educators at government schools in the Cape Metropolitan area who ...

  12. Towards Understanding Different Faces of School Violence in Different "Worlds" of One Country

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Lynette

    2013-01-01

    The legacy of South Africa's destructive history is still evident in the different worlds in which South Africans live. Quality education is compromised by violence occurring in schools and role-players must face school violence and take steps to deal with it. This can only be done if school violence is deeply understood within the various school…

  13. Face recognition increases during saccade preparation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Hai; Rizak, Joshua D; Ma, Yuan-ye; Yang, Shang-chuan; Chen, Lin; Hu, Xin-tian

    2014-01-01

    Face perception is integral to human perception system as it underlies social interactions. Saccadic eye movements are frequently made to bring interesting visual information, such as faces, onto the fovea for detailed processing. Just before eye movement onset, the processing of some basic features, such as the orientation, of an object improves at the saccade landing point. Interestingly, there is also evidence that indicates faces are processed in early visual processing stages similar to basic features. However, it is not known whether this early enhancement of processing includes face recognition. In this study, three experiments were performed to map the timing of face presentation to the beginning of the eye movement in order to evaluate pre-saccadic face recognition. Faces were found to be similarly processed as simple objects immediately prior to saccadic movements. Starting ∼ 120 ms before a saccade to a target face, independent of whether or not the face was surrounded by other faces, the face recognition gradually improved and the critical spacing of the crowding decreased as saccade onset was approaching. These results suggest that an upcoming saccade prepares the visual system for new information about faces at the saccade landing site and may reduce the background in a crowd to target the intended face. This indicates an important role of pre-saccadic eye movement signals in human face recognition.

  14. Cyber Victimization in High School: Measurement, Overlap with Face-to-Face Victimization, and Associations with Social-Emotional Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Christina Flynn; Demaray, Michelle Kilpatrick; Tennant, Jaclyn E.; Jenkins, Lyndsay N.

    2017-01-01

    Cyber victimization is a contemporary problem facing youth and adolescents (Diamanduros, Downs, & Jenkins, 2008; Kowalski & Limber, 2007). It is imperative for researchers and school personnel to understand the associations between cyber victimization and student social-emotional outcomes. This article explores (a) gender differences in…

  15. The Application of School Watching Method to Increase the Earthquake Disaster Knowledge of Primary School Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sri Adelila Sari

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The study entitled "The Application of School Watching to Increase the Earthquake Disaster Knowledge of Primary School Students, MIN Blang Mancung, Aceh" was aimed to describe the students' knowledge of the different dangerous objects in the face of an earthquake. The approach used in this study was qualitative and quantitative. The type of study was descriptive. Subjects used were as many as 30 students MIN Blang Mancung, Aceh. The method used was an experimental, which was divided into two classes, namely the experimental and control classes. Data collection technique was using questionnaires, which included the questions about common dangerous objects, dangerous objects in the class and also in the school yard. The results showed that there was a significant effect on students' knowledge before and after the implementation of the method School Watching. In addition, the knowledge of students toward the dangerous objects was found to be significant different between control and experimental class.

  16. Blended Learning Model on Hands-On Approach for In-Service Secondary School Teachers: Combination of E-Learning and Face-to-Face Discussion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Vinh-Thang; Nakamori, Yoshiteru; Ho, Tu-Bao; Lim, Cher Ping

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a blended learning model on hands-on approach for in-service secondary school teachers using a quasi-experimental design. A 24-h teacher-training course using the blended learning model was administered to 117 teachers, while face-to-face instruction was given to 60 teachers. The…

  17. Four year-olds use norm-based coding for face identity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffery, Linda; Read, Ainsley; Rhodes, Gillian

    2013-05-01

    Norm-based coding, in which faces are coded as deviations from an average face, is an efficient way of coding visual patterns that share a common structure and must be distinguished by subtle variations that define individuals. Adults and school-aged children use norm-based coding for face identity but it is not yet known if pre-school aged children also use norm-based coding. We reasoned that the transition to school could be critical in developing a norm-based system because school places new demands on children's face identification skills and substantially increases experience with faces. Consistent with this view, face identification performance improves steeply between ages 4 and 7. We used face identity aftereffects to test whether norm-based coding emerges between these ages. We found that 4 year-old children, like adults, showed larger face identity aftereffects for adaptors far from the average than for adaptors closer to the average, consistent with use of norm-based coding. We conclude that experience prior to age 4 is sufficient to develop a norm-based face-space and that failure to use norm-based coding cannot explain 4 year-old children's poor face identification skills. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. The development of the own-race advantage in school-age children: A morphing face paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chien, Sarina Hui-Lin; Tai, Chu-Lik; Yang, Shu-Fei

    2018-01-01

    Previous studies examining the other-race effect in school-age children mostly focused on recognition memory performance. Here we investigated perceptual discriminability for Asian-like versus Caucasian-like morph faces in school-age Taiwanese children and adults. One-hundred-and-two 5- to 12-year-old children and twenty-three adults performed a sequential same/different face matching task, where they viewed an Asian- or a Caucasian-parent face followed by either the same parent face or a different morphed face (containing 15%, 30%, 45%, or 60% contribution from the other parent face) and judged if the two faces looked the same. We computed the d' as the sensitivity index for each age groups. We also analyzed the group mean rejection rates as a function of the morph level and fitted with a cumulative normal distribution function. Results showed that the adults and the oldest 11-12-year-old children exhibited a greater sensitivity (d') and a smaller discrimination threshold (μ) in the Asian-parent condition than those in the Caucasian-parent condition, indicating the presence of an own-race advantage. On the contrary, 5- to 10-year-old children showed an equal sensitivity and similar discrimination thresholds for both conditions, indicating an absence of the own-race advantage. Moreover, a gradual development in enhancing the discriminability for the Asian-parent condition was observed from age 5 to 12; however, the progression in the Caucasian-parent condition was less apparent. In sum, our findings suggest that expertise in face processing may take the entire childhood to develop, and supports the perceptual learning view of the other-race effect-the own-race advantage seen in adulthood likely reflects a result of prolonged learning specific to faces most commonly seen in one's visual environment such as own-race faces.

  19. Charter Schools: The Smiling Face of Disinvestment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molnar, Alex

    1996-01-01

    Despite the rosy image projected by child-centered reformers, zealots and profiteers are really driving the charter school movement. Charter schools cannot flourish without drastic wage reductions or huge spending increases, nor will they benefit America's poorest children. The market, which has already destroyed kids' neighborhoods and parents'…

  20. Challenges Facing Women Academic Leadership in Secondary Schools of Irbid Educational Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Jaradat, Mahmoud Khaled Mohammad

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed at identifying the challenges facing women academic leadership in secondary schools of Irbid Educational Area. A random sample of 187 female leaders were chosen. They responded to a 49-item questionnaire prepared by the researcher. The items were distributed into four domains: organizational, personal, social and physical…

  1. Face to Face or E-Learning in Turkish EFL Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solak, Ekrem; Cakir, Recep

    2014-01-01

    This purpose of this study was to understand e-learners and face to face learners' views towards learning English through e-learning in vocational higher school context and to determine the role of academic achievement and gender in e-learning and face to face learning. This study was conducted at a state-run university in 2012-2013 academic year…

  2. Challenges Facing Managers in Managing Conflict in Schools in the South and South Central Regions of Botswana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morake, Nnior Machomi; Monobe, Ratau John; Dingwe, Stephonia

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges facing managers in managing conflict in schools of South and South Central Regions of Botswana. In this study, the schedule of interview was used to collect empirical data. A random sample of 50 school managers and deputy school managers was selected for interviews. Major findings of the…

  3. School Climate and Leadership: Levers for School Improvement Efforts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Lois

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative study considers which aspects of school climate support or inhibit student achievement as each aspect relates to school leadership and school reform efforts. Due to the increased responsibility and accountability which schools face during these challenging times, school climate and the role of the school principal formed the basis…

  4. Oxytocin increases bias, but not accuracy, in face recognition line-ups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bate, Sarah; Bennetts, Rachel; Parris, Benjamin A; Bindemann, Markus; Udale, Robert; Bussunt, Amanda

    2015-07-01

    Previous work indicates that intranasal inhalation of oxytocin improves face recognition skills, raising the possibility that it may be used in security settings. However, it is unclear whether oxytocin directly acts upon the core face-processing system itself or indirectly improves face recognition via affective or social salience mechanisms. In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task-a standardized test of unfamiliar face recognition containing target-present and target-absent line-ups. Participants in the oxytocin condition outperformed those in the placebo condition on target-present trials, yet were more likely to make false-positive errors on target-absent trials. Signal detection analyses indicated that oxytocin induced a more liberal response bias, rather than increasing accuracy per se. These findings support a social salience account of the effects of oxytocin on face recognition and indicate that oxytocin may impede face recognition in certain scenarios. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. Institutional educational projects in Colombia facing school integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lilian Caicedo Obando

    2004-02-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, more than before people talks about the importance to pay attention to the particularity, and this concept has had different conceptions: starting with the incapacity, concept understood like the feature which make a subject different from the others. Other concept is vulnerability which require special attention by the same society that has produced this. Education is one of the most important aspects in the attention. And what is happening inside the educative institutions is not the result of only one way to face and understand the situation that imply the subjects integration since the particularity many senses are assumed in relation with the conception of: subject, school, integration. For this reason, in this article the instrumental, strategic and complex senses are analysed. 

  6. A comparison of the effectiveness of a game informed online learning activity and face to face teaching in increasing knowledge about managing aggression in health settings

    OpenAIRE

    McKenzie, Karen

    2013-01-01

    The present study compared the impact of face to face teaching with a short online game informed learning activity on health participants' knowledge about, and confidence in, managing aggressive situations. Both forms of teaching resulted in a significant increase in participants' knowledge and confidence. Face to face training led to significantly greater increases in knowledge but was equivalent in terms of confidence. Both forms of teaching were rated positively, but face to face teaching ...

  7. Mere Exposure and Racial Prejudice: Exposure to Other-Race Faces Increases Liking for Strangers of That Race.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zebrowitz, Leslie A; White, Benjamin; Wieneke, Kristin

    2008-01-01

    White participants were exposed to other-race or own-race faces to test the generalized mere exposure hypothesis in the domain of face perception, namely that exposure to a set of faces yields increased liking for similar faces that have never been seen. In Experiment 1, rapid supraliminal exposures to Asian faces increased White participants' subsequent liking for a different set of Asian faces. In Experiment 2, subliminal exposures to Black faces increased White participants' subsequent liking for a different set of Black faces. The findings are consistent with prominent explanations for mere exposure effects as well as with the familiar face overgeneralization hypothesis that prejudice derives in part from negative reactions to faces that deviate from the familiar own-race prototype.

  8. Our Community, Our Schools: A Case Study of Program Design for School-Based Mental Health Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capp, Gordon

    2015-01-01

    Schools face increasing demands to support the mental health needs of students and families; some estimate that 80 percent of students receive mental health services at school. Thus, schools face two daunting challenges: (1) to provide effective mental health support to students and (2) to address how mental health needs affect other students,…

  9. Leading a Small Remote School: In the Face of a Culture of Acceptance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wildy, Helen; Clarke, Simon

    2012-01-01

    This article presents a case study of one very small school in a remote location of Western Australia. The study is part of a larger programme, International Study of Principal Preparation, investigating the challenges facing novice principals in the first 3 years of appointment and the extent to which they felt they were adequately prepared to…

  10. Virtual Charter Schools: Realities and Unknowns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torre, Daniela

    2013-01-01

    Virtual charter schools have emerged over the last decade as an increasingly popular alternative to traditional public schooling. Unlike their face-to-face counterparts, virtual charter schools educate students through blended or entirely online curricula. They present a host of new policy issues that should be scrutinized in order to ensure that…

  11. Cyberbullying: An Increasing Challenge for Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Marees, Nandoli; Petermann, Franz

    2012-01-01

    The use of information and communication technology (ICT) has not only brought advantages to mankind. One downside is the emergence and increase of cyberbullying in schools. Affecting students of all ages, teachers, parents, and other educators, this special form of bullying is an increasing challenge for schools. This article offers an overview…

  12. Increased amygdala responses to emotional faces after psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roseman, Leor; Demetriou, Lysia; Wall, Matthew B; Nutt, David J; Carhart-Harris, Robin L

    2017-12-27

    Recent evidence indicates that psilocybin with psychological support may be effective for treating depression. Some studies have found that patients with depression show heightened amygdala responses to fearful faces and there is reliable evidence that treatment with SSRIs attenuates amygdala responses (Ma, 2015). We hypothesised that amygdala responses to emotional faces would be altered post-treatment with psilocybin. In this open-label study, 20 individuals diagnosed with moderate to severe, treatment-resistant depression, underwent two separate dosing sessions with psilocybin. Psychological support was provided before, during and after these sessions and 19 completed fMRI scans one week prior to the first session and one day after the second and last. Neutral, fearful and happy faces were presented in the scanner and analyses focused on the amygdala. Group results revealed rapid and enduring improvements in depressive symptoms post psilocybin. Increased responses to fearful and happy faces were observed in the right amygdala post-treatment, and right amygdala increases to fearful versus neutral faces were predictive of clinical improvements at 1-week. Psilocybin with psychological support was associated with increased amygdala responses to emotional stimuli, an opposite effect to previous findings with SSRIs. This suggests fundamental differences in these treatments' therapeutic actions, with SSRIs mitigating negative emotions and psilocybin allowing patients to confront and work through them. Based on the present results, we propose that psilocybin with psychological support is a treatment approach that potentially revives emotional responsiveness in depression, enabling patients to reconnect with their emotions. ISRCTN, number ISRCTN14426797. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  13. Problems Faced by Beginning Teachers in Private Elementary Schools: A Comparative Study between Spain and Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magda Yolanda Cantú Tijerina

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available In order to explore the problems faced by beginning teachers in private elementary schools in the Spanish city of Madrid and in the Mexican city of Monterrey, questionnaires were applied to private school teachers just starting out in both cities. The results indicate that in both contexts, as beginners, teachers face problems of an academic, organizational, social, and material and technological nature. However, it stresses the fact that Mexican teachers perceive more problems in all the categories than do their Spanish colleagues. Similarity in the results was found in the category of social problems, which was the one mentioned least by the teachers in both cities. This suggests that the cultural nature of these two countries may be a factor to be considered in connection with fostering beginning teachers’ adaptation process.

  14. A comparison of the effectiveness of a game informed online learning activity and face to face teaching in increasing knowledge about managing aggression in health settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenzie, Karen

    2013-12-01

    The present study compared the impact of face to face teaching with a short online game informed learning activity on health participants' knowledge about, and confidence in, managing aggressive situations. Both forms of teaching resulted in a significant increase in participants' knowledge and confidence. Face to face training led to significantly greater increases in knowledge but was equivalent in terms of confidence. Both forms of teaching were rated positively, but face to face teaching received significantly higher ratings than the online activity. The study suggests that short online game informed learning activities may offer an effective alternative for health professional training where face to face training is not possible. Further research is needed on the longer term impact of both types of training on practice.

  15. Development of Face Recognition in 5- to 15-Year-Olds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinnunen, Suna; Korkman, Marit; Laasonen, Marja; Lahti-Nuuttila, Pekka

    2013-01-01

    This study focuses on the development of face recognition in typically developing preschool- and school-aged children (aged 5 to 15 years old, "n" = 611, 336 girls). Social predictors include sex differences and own-sex bias. At younger ages, the development of face recognition was rapid and became more gradual as the age increased up…

  16. Faces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, Kristine Køhler; Brotherton, Chloe

    2018-01-01

    for the face the be put into action. Based on an ethnographic study of Danish teenagers’ use of SnapChat we demonstrate how the face is used as a central medium for interaction with peers. Through the analysis of visual SnapChat messages we investigate how SnapChat requires the sender to put an ‘ugly’ face...... already secured their popular status on the heterosexual marketplace in the broad context of the school. Thus SnapChat functions both as a challenge to beauty norms of ‘flawless faces’ and as a reinscription of these same norms by further manifesting the exclusive status of the popular girl...

  17. There Are No Children Here: The Case of an Inner-City School Addressing Issues Facing Children and Families Living in Poverty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sallee, Mariel; Boske, Christa

    2013-01-01

    This case is based on real-life experiences of community school members within Horner School--an inner-city public school. Specifically, the case explores challenges faced by Cathleen, a 1st-year, White, female principal, who was hired by central office to "revamp a charter school" to promote a quality education for all children. The case raises…

  18. A comparison of problem identification interviews conducted face-to-face and via videoconferencing using the consultation analysis record.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Aaron J; Collier-Meek, Melissa A; Bloomfield, Bradley; Erchul, William P; Gresham, Frank M

    2017-08-01

    School psychologists who experience challenges delivering face-to-face consultation may utilize videoconferencing to facilitate their consultation activities. Videoconferencing has been found to be an effective method of service delivery in related fields and emerging research suggests that it may be effective for providing teacher training and support in school settings. In this exploratory investigation, we used the Consultation Analysis Record (Bergan & Tombari, 1975) and its four indices to assess the effectiveness of conducting problem identification interviews via videoconferencing versus face-to-face. Overall, findings indicated significant differences across these two conditions, with videoconference interviews coded as having higher indices of content relevance, process effectiveness, and message control, but lower content focus, compared to face-to-face interviews. As these indices have been positively associated with favorable consultation outcomes, the results provide initial support for the effectiveness of consultation delivered via videoconferencing. Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Challenges facing primary school educators of English Second (or Other Language learners in the Western Cape

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julie O'Connor

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available We were prompted by the prevalence of English Second or Other Language (ESOL learners identified by educators as having language disorders and being referred for Speech-Language Therapy. We describe challenges faced by Grade 1, 2 and 3 educators at government schools in the Cape Metropolitan area who were working with such learners. Applying a mixed-methods descriptive design, a self-administered questionnaire and three focus groups were used for data collection. Educator perceptions and experiences regarding ESOL learners were described. Some participant educators at schools that were not former Model C schools had large classes, including large proportions of ESOL learners. Fur­thermore, there was a shortage of educators who were able to speak isiXhosa, the most frequently occurring first (or home language of the region's ESOL learners. Challenges faced by educators when teaching ESOL learners included learners' academic and socio-emotional difficulties and a lack of parent in­volvement in their children's education. Participant educators indicated a need for departmental, professional and parental support, and additional training and resources. Implications and recommendations for speech-language thera­pist and educator collaborations and speech-language therapists' participation in educator training were identified.

  20. Increasing instruction time in school does increase learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Simon Calmar; Humlum, Maria; Nandrup, Anne Brink

    2016-01-01

    Increasing instruction time in school is a central element in the attempts of many governments to improve student learning, but prior research—mainly based on observational data—disputes the effect of this approach and points out the potential negative effects on student behavior. Based on a large......-scale, cluster-randomized trial, we find that increasing instruction time increases student learning and that a general increase in instruction time is at least as efficient as an expert-developed, detailed teaching program that increases instruction with the same amount of time. These findings support the value...... of increased instruction time....

  1. The Major Challenges Facing Teacher Education in an Increasingly Global Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paese, Paul C.

    2008-01-01

    Central to schools of education are the professional preparation and development of future educators, who will be responsible for preparing citizens to function and live in a global community. Globalization and schooling have the potential to successfully or unsuccessfully affect the skills that students need to succeed in an increasingly global…

  2. A Comparison of the Effectiveness of a Game Informed Online Learning Activity and Face to Face Teaching in Increasing Knowledge about Managing Aggression in Health Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenzie, Karen

    2013-01-01

    The present study compared the impact of face to face teaching with a short online game informed learning activity on health participants' knowledge about, and confidence in, managing aggressive situations. Both forms of teaching resulted in a significant increase in participants' knowledge and confidence. Face to face training led to…

  3. Teachers’ Perceptions of the Problems faced in the Teaching of History in Senior High Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gideon Boadu

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available History is an important school subject which conveys invaluable lessons from the past and whose worth transcends regional, national and cultural boundaries. Such a subject needs to be taught well in order to make learners gain deep appreciation of the relevance of their learning. However, effective teaching of history in Ghanaian schools has long been blighted by problems and challenges that have often gone unaddressed. With little empirical literature emerging from Ghana, this study, drawing on 32 history teachers from 18 senior high schools, examined history teachers’ perceptions of the problems faced in the teaching of history in the Cape Coast metropolis and Komenda, Edina, Eguafo, Abrim district in the Central Region of Ghana. The descriptive cross-sectional research design was used for the study and data were collected through questionnaires. The study found that overloaded syllabus, insufficient human and material resources, lack of support for the subject and large classes were the major problems facing the teaching of history. Based on the findings, the study concluded that the problems confronting the teaching of history in the two districts are administrative and pedagogical in nature. On this conclusion, it was recommended, among others, that syllabus content should be integrated to make it sync with the period given for its implementation. Also, the necessary resources should be provided to enhance the teaching of the subject.

  4. Technology survey on video face tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Tong; Gomes, Herman Martins

    2014-03-01

    With the pervasiveness of monitoring cameras installed in public areas, schools, hospitals, work places and homes, video analytics technologies for interpreting these video contents are becoming increasingly relevant to people's lives. Among such technologies, human face detection and tracking (and face identification in many cases) are particularly useful in various application scenarios. While plenty of research has been conducted on face tracking and many promising approaches have been proposed, there are still significant challenges in recognizing and tracking people in videos with uncontrolled capturing conditions, largely due to pose and illumination variations, as well as occlusions and cluttered background. It is especially complex to track and identify multiple people simultaneously in real time due to the large amount of computation involved. In this paper, we present a survey on literature and software that are published or developed during recent years on the face tracking topic. The survey covers the following topics: 1) mainstream and state-of-the-art face tracking methods, including features used to model the targets and metrics used for tracking; 2) face identification and face clustering from face sequences; and 3) software packages or demonstrations that are available for algorithm development or trial. A number of publically available databases for face tracking are also introduced.

  5. Increasing Students' Perceived Sociopolitical Empowerment through Online and Face-to-Face Community Psychology Seminars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francescato, Donata; Solimeno, Andrea; Mebane, Minou Ella; Tomai, Manuela

    2009-01-01

    Community psychology theorists underline the importance of promoting sociopolitical empowerment, but few studies have been conducted on the evaluation of the efficacy of empowering programs among university students. The authors report two studies: the first, with 216 psychology majors, compared the efficacy of face-to-face and online community…

  6. Does elementary school alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use increase middle school risk?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Nance; Battistich, Victor; Syme, S Leonard; Boyce, W Thomas

    2002-06-01

    To assess whether alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use in elementary school may have serious implications for continued ATOD use in middle school and beyond. Longitudinal analyses were conducted on questionnaire data from 331 middle school students who had previously provided ATOD-use data during elementary school. Non-school personnel administered questionnaires in three participating school districts in three different states. The sample of students was ethnically and geographically diverse, including students from a range of low socioeconomic status backgrounds living in rural, urban or inner-city environments. Middle school alcohol use was almost three times as likely to occur if alcohol use had occurred in elementary school (OR = 2.94, p Elementary school use of tobacco and marijuana also greatly increased the likelihood of middle school use (OR = 5.35, p elementary school, during the middle childhood years.

  7. Neural synchronization during face-to-face communication

    OpenAIRE

    Jiang, J.; Dai, B.; Peng, D.; Zhu, C.; Liu, L.; Lu, C.

    2012-01-01

    Although the human brain may have evolutionarily adapted to face-to-face communication, other modes of communication, e.g., telephone and e-mail, increasingly dominate our modern daily life. This study examined the neural difference between face-to-face communication and other types of communication by simultaneously measuring two brains using a hyperscanning approach. The results showed a significant increase in the neural synchronization in the left inferior frontal cortex during a face-to-...

  8. Neural synchronization during face-to-face communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Jing; Dai, Bohan; Peng, Danling; Zhu, Chaozhe; Liu, Li; Lu, Chunming

    2012-11-07

    Although the human brain may have evolutionarily adapted to face-to-face communication, other modes of communication, e.g., telephone and e-mail, increasingly dominate our modern daily life. This study examined the neural difference between face-to-face communication and other types of communication by simultaneously measuring two brains using a hyperscanning approach. The results showed a significant increase in the neural synchronization in the left inferior frontal cortex during a face-to-face dialog between partners but none during a back-to-back dialog, a face-to-face monologue, or a back-to-back monologue. Moreover, the neural synchronization between partners during the face-to-face dialog resulted primarily from the direct interactions between the partners, including multimodal sensory information integration and turn-taking behavior. The communicating behavior during the face-to-face dialog could be predicted accurately based on the neural synchronization level. These results suggest that face-to-face communication, particularly dialog, has special neural features that other types of communication do not have and that the neural synchronization between partners may underlie successful face-to-face communication.

  9. Facing the "Challenge": School Leadership in Intercultural Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajisoteriou, Christina; Angelides, Panayiotis

    2014-01-01

    The overarching purpose of this study is to examine the prospects of school leadership for the development of intercultural education. The article focuses on the ways in which Greek-Cypriot headteachers conceptualize: diversity and intercultural education; and their school leadership roles in culturally diverse settings. To this extent, interviews…

  10. Increasing the Value of Agricultural Products in the Face of Global ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Paper examined the increasing value of agricultural products in the face of global economic recession in Anambra State. The paper revealed that Anambra State is endowed with human and natural resources and if properly harnessed, can go a long way in arresting the food insecurity in the State and alleviate the ...

  11. Experimental instruction in photonics for high school students: approaches to managing problems faced

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choong, Zhengyang

    2017-08-01

    Student research projects are increasingly common at the K-12 level. However, students often face difficulties in the course of their school research projects such as setting realistic timelines and expectations, handling problems stemming from a lack of self-confidence, as well as being sufficiently disciplined for sustained communication and experimentation. In this work, we explore manifestations of these problems in the context of a photonics project, characterising the spectrum of the breakdown flash from Silicon Avalanche Photodiodes. We report on the process of planning and building the setup, data collection, analysis and troubleshooting, as well as the technical and human problems at each step. Approaches that were found to be helpful in managing the aforementioned problems are discussed, including an attention to detail during experimental work, as well as communicating in a forthcoming manner. Œe former allowed for clearer planning and the setting of quantifiable proximal goals; the latter helped in motivating discipline, and also helped in the understanding of research as an iterative learning process without a clear definition of success or failure.

  12. An Exploration of Online Environments Supporting Follow-Up to Face-to-Face Professional Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Marybeth; Cifuentes, Lauren

    2008-01-01

    In this study we examined the effects of online follow-up and online peer interaction following a face-to face professional development workshop on attitudes towards that professional development and completion of a professional development task. School librarians were invited to work online on a three page plan outlining interventions a library…

  13. Four Year-Olds Use Norm-Based Coding for Face Identity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffery, Linda; Read, Ainsley; Rhodes, Gillian

    2013-01-01

    Norm-based coding, in which faces are coded as deviations from an average face, is an efficient way of coding visual patterns that share a common structure and must be distinguished by subtle variations that define individuals. Adults and school-aged children use norm-based coding for face identity but it is not yet known if pre-school aged…

  14. "Life Skills": A Single-Sex Classroom Intervention for Black Boys Transitioning from Middle School to High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flennaugh, Terry

    2017-01-01

    The transition from middle school to high school can be difficult for many students due to increases in school size, the structure of an academic schedule, and the complexity of social interactions in high school. However, Black boys face unique challenges during this transition period due to racism and structural inequalities. In response to…

  15. Understanding and Facing Discipline-Related Challenges in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom at Public Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josefina Quintero Corzo

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Complying with school regulations and teachers' instructions is a basic principle of an excellent class; both novice and experienced teachers face challenging situations when getting into real classrooms, especially those related to classroom management. There are various reasons that explain discipline problems in public schools, as well as varied strategies beginning teachers create and try when coping with those challenges. This article reports an action research study on how this methodology helped a group of teacher-trainees overcome indiscipline in English as a foreign language classrooms at public schools, and align with professional development initiatives which focus on reflection and decision-making processes that the new Colombian policies demand from new teachers seeking a higher quality of education.

  16. Child Maltreatment: Optimizing Recognition and Reporting by School Nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Kathleen S; MacKay, Peggy; Woods, Stephanie J

    2017-05-01

    School nurses perform a crucial role in the prevention, identification, intervention, and reporting of child maltreatment. The purpose of this article is to share the highlights of a research project conducted to (a) examine the effectiveness of an educational intervention program in increasing the knowledge, confidence, and self-efficacy in school nurses regarding children at risk of maltreatment; and (b) discover issues surrounding the comfort level engaging with children, communicating with teachers and other personnel, and ethical issues. The study consisted of two phases. Phase 1 was a face-to-face evidenced-based educational intervention. Focus groups implemented in Phase 2 discovered specific concerns of school nurses. Results indicate a significant increase in school nurse knowledge, confidence, and self-efficacy related to children at risk. Five themes were identified from the focus groups: the importance of interprofessional collaboration, identifiers of children at risk of maltreatment, the role of the school nurse as a mentor and leader, the importance of advancing one's knowledge and skill set, and constraints faced by school nurses.

  17. Increased phase synchronization during continuous face integration measured simultaneously with EEG and fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kottlow, Mara; Jann, Kay; Dierks, Thomas; Koenig, Thomas

    2012-08-01

    Gamma zero-lag phase synchronization has been measured in the animal brain during visual binding. Human scalp EEG studies used a phase locking factor (trial-to-trial phase-shift consistency) or gamma amplitude to measure binding but did not analyze common-phase signals so far. This study introduces a method to identify networks oscillating with near zero-lag phase synchronization in human subjects. We presented unpredictably moving face parts (NOFACE) which - during some periods - produced a complete schematic face (FACE). The amount of zero-lag phase synchronization was measured using global field synchronization (GFS). GFS provides global information on the amount of instantaneous coincidences in specific frequencies throughout the brain. Gamma GFS was increased during the FACE condition. To localize the underlying areas, we correlated gamma GFS with simultaneously recorded BOLD responses. Positive correlates comprised the bilateral middle fusiform gyrus and the left precuneus. These areas may form a network of areas transiently synchronized during face integration, including face-specific as well as binding-specific regions and regions for visual processing in general. Thus, the amount of zero-lag phase synchronization between remote regions of the human visual system can be measured with simultaneously acquired EEG/fMRI. Copyright © 2012 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Using an Iterative Mixed-Methods Research Design to Investigate Schools Facing Exceptionally Challenging Circumstances within Trinidad and Tobago

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Lisle, Jerome; Seunarinesingh, Krishna; Mohammed, Rhoda; Lee-Piggott, Rinnelle

    2017-01-01

    In this study, methodology and theory were linked to explicate the nature of education practice within schools facing exceptionally challenging circumstances (SFECC) in Trinidad and Tobago. The research design was an iterative quan>QUAL-quan>qual multi-method research programme, consisting of 3 independent projects linked together by overall…

  19. Guiding High School Students through Applied Internship Projects in College Environments: A Met School Story

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassan, Said

    2012-01-01

    Many high school students are faced with the dilemma of "what next?" as they go through their final years at school. With new-economy jobs becoming more complex and career paths increasingly convoluted, the decision-making process is no simple task. What do these jobs and careers entail? How does what they are studying in school relate…

  20. Non-invasive brain stimulation targeting the right fusiform gyrus selectively increases working memory for faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunyé, Tad T; Moran, Joseph M; Holmes, Amanda; Mahoney, Caroline R; Taylor, Holly A

    2017-04-01

    The human extrastriate cortex contains a region critically involved in face detection and memory, the right fusiform gyrus. The present study evaluated whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting this anatomical region would selectively influence memory for faces versus non-face objects (houses). Anodal tDCS targeted the right fusiform gyrus (Brodmann's Area 37), with the anode at electrode site PO10, and cathode at FP2. Two stimulation conditions were compared in a repeated-measures design: 0.5mA versus 1.5mA intensity; a separate control group received no stimulation. Participants completed a working memory task for face and house stimuli, varying in memory load from 1 to 4 items. Individual differences measures assessed trait-based differences in facial recognition skills. Results showed 1.5mA intensity stimulation (versus 0.5mA and control) increased performance at high memory loads, but only with faces. Lower overall working memory capacity predicted a positive impact of tDCS. Results provide support for the notion of functional specialization of the right fusiform regions for maintaining face (but not non-face object) stimuli in working memory, and further suggest that low intensity electrical stimulation of this region may enhance demanding face working memory performance particularly in those with relatively poor baseline working memory skills. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  1. Structural Intervention With School Nurses Increases Receipt of Sexual Health Care Among Male High School Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dittus, Patricia J; Harper, Christopher R; Becasen, Jeffrey S; Donatello, Robin A; Ethier, Kathleen A

    2018-01-01

    Adolescent males are less likely to receive health care and have lower levels of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge than adolescent females. The purpose of this study was to determine if a school-based structural intervention focused on school nurses increases receipt of condoms and SRH information among male students. Interventions to improve student access to sexual and reproductive health care were implemented in six urban high schools with a matched set of comparison schools. Interventions included working with school nurses to improve access to sexual and reproductive health care, including the provision of condoms and information about pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention and services. Intervention effects were assessed through five cross-sectional yearly surveys, and analyses include data from 13,740 male students. Nurses in intervention schools changed their interactions with male students who visited them for services, such that, among those who reported they went to the school nurse for any reason in the previous year, those in intervention schools reported significant increases in receipt of sexual health services over the course of the study compared with students in comparison schools. Further, these results translated into population-level effects. Among all male students surveyed, those in intervention schools were more likely than those in comparison schools to report increases in receipt of sexual health services from school nurses. With a minimal investment of resources, school nurses can become important sources of SRH information and condoms for male high school students. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  2. The Study of Potentials and Problems in Reading Faced By the Eighth Grade Students of Junior High School

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ida Ayu Made Istri Utami

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Knowing students’ problems, especially in reading, is very important to design an appropriate and meaningful learning. From the problem identification, teacher can find the potency of designing and developing material to meet students’ need. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify the potentials and problems toward reading lesson faced by the eighth grade students of Junior High School. This study was based on the result of classroom observation, document study, and also checklists. The identification of potency and problems through classroom observation was done to obtain data on how existing reading material was used in teaching reading on the classroom. There was also document study to evaluate existing reading material and syllabus used for teaching reading. Then, the data from the teacher and students had been gathered by administering checklists. From the result of the study, it can be identified that the problems faced by the eighth grade students of Junior High School in reading dealt with topic selection, pictures or illustration, and reading activities, while the potency was to develop new reading material by using those problems as consideration.

  3. The Impact of Mentoring Programs on Teachers in Urban Middle Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wider, Beyonka Shantel

    2012-01-01

    Retaining teachers is a pressing issue facing many urban middle schools in the southern US. Urban middle schools continually face increased teacher turnover rates in spite of state mandated induction and mentoring programs. Drawing from Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, the purpose of the qualitative case study was to examine urban middle…

  4. Attention to internal face features in unfamiliar face matching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fletcher, Kingsley I; Butavicius, Marcus A; Lee, Michael D

    2008-08-01

    Accurate matching of unfamiliar faces is vital in security and forensic applications, yet previous research has suggested that humans often perform poorly when matching unfamiliar faces. Hairstyle and facial hair can strongly influence unfamiliar face matching but are potentially unreliable cues. This study investigated whether increased attention to the more stable internal face features of eyes, nose, and mouth was associated with more accurate face-matching performance. Forty-three first-year psychology students decided whether two simultaneously presented faces were of the same person or not. The faces were displayed for either 2 or 6 seconds, and had either similar or dissimilar hairstyles. The level of attention to internal features was measured by the proportion of fixation time spent on the internal face features and the sensitivity of discrimination to changes in external feature similarity. Increased attention to internal features was associated with increased discrimination in the 2-second display-time condition, but no significant relationship was found in the 6-second condition. Individual differences in eye-movements were highly stable across the experimental conditions.

  5. School-Based Health Promotion Initiative Increases Children's Physical Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cluss, Patricia; Lorigan, Devin; Kinsky, Suzanne; Nikolajski, Cara; McDermott, Anne; Bhat, Kiran B.

    2016-01-01

    Background: Childhood obesity increases health risk, and modest physical activity can impact that risk. Schools have an opportunity to help children become more active. Purpose: This study implemented a program offering extra school-day activity opportunities in a rural school district where 37% of students were obese or overweight in 2005 and…

  6. School-level factors associated with increased fruit and vegetable consumption among students in California middle and high schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gosliner, Wendi

    2014-09-01

    This study assessed associations between selective school-level factors and students' consumption of fruits and vegetables at school. Better understanding of school factors associated with increased produce consumption is especially important, as students are served more produce items at school. This cross-sectional study included 5439 seventh- and ninth-grade students from 31 schools in California in 2010. Multilevel regression models estimated whether the odds of consuming fruits or vegetables at school among students eating the school lunch were associated with the length of the lunch period, quality/variety of produce options, or other factors. A longer lunch period was associated with increased odds of a student eating fruits (odds ratio [OR] = 1.40) and vegetables (OR = 1.54) at school. Better fruit quality increased the odds of a student consuming fruit (OR = 1.44). Including a salad bar and involving students in food service decisions increased a student's odds of consuming vegetables (OR = 1.48 and OR = 1.34, respectively). This study suggests that institutional factors in schools are positively associated with middle and high school students' consumption of produce items at school. Additional efforts to structure school meal environments to enhance students' consumption of produce items can benefit students' nutrition and health. © 2014, American School Health Association.

  7. Does Competition Improve Public School Efficiency? A Spatial Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misra, Kaustav

    2010-01-01

    Proponents of educational reform often call for policies to increase competition between schools. It is argued that market forces naturally lead to greater efficiencies, including improved student learning, when schools face competition. In many parts of the country, public schools experience significant competition from private schools; however,…

  8. Inclusive STEM High Schools Increase Opportunities for Underrepresented Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spillane, Nancy K.; Lynch, Sharon J.; Ford, Michael R.

    2016-01-01

    The authors report on a study of eight inclusive STEM high schools that are designed to increase the numbers of students in demographic groups underrepresented in STEM. As STEM schools, they have had broader and deeper STEM coursework (taken by all students) than required by their respective states and school districts; they also had outcome…

  9. Women School Leaders: Entrepreneurs in Low Fee Private Schools in Three West African Nations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula A. Cordeiro

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the opportunities and challenges of women who own low-fee private schools in three West African nations. With the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs in 2000 and the Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, it has become obvious to policymakers that school leadership needs to be a policy priority around the world. Increased school autonomy and a greater focus on schooling and school results have made it essential to understand and support the role of school leaders. Few countries however have strong and systematic initiatives to professionalize school leadership and to nurture and support current school leaders. This becomes even more complex for governments given the rise of private schooling in low and middle-income countries worldwide; thus, it is crucial for governments to understand the importance of leadership at the school level and how to nurture and professionalize it. In this study, the authors examine the roles of women school leaders in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Liberia within the context of MDG 3: promote gender equality and empower women. Because of the many challenges in the public sector in education in low and middle-income countries, the private sector has responded by creating thousands of small businesses. Since a large and growing number of women are leading these private schools, this study presents the findings on the nature of the leadership of these women entrepreneurs. Fourteen school proprietors participated in face-to face interviews about their reasons for founding a school as well as the supports and challenges they face. Findings discuss the limited professional learning opportunities for school leaders in these nations. The study describes the school leaders’ desires to help build their nations, and the unique cultural and contextual factors in each country.

  10. Teacher Victimization in Authoritative School Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapa, Ryan R.; Luke, Jeremy; Moulthrop, Dorothy; Gimbert, Belinda

    2018-01-01

    Background: Victimization in schools is not limited to students. Teachers increasingly face threats and attacks from their students. An authoritative school environment, characterized by high structure and support, has been associated with lower rates of victimization. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between authoritative…

  11. A Face-to-Face Professional Development Model to Enhance Teaching of Online Research Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily Walden

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available To help students navigate the digital environment, teachers not only need access to the right technology tools but they must also engage in pedagogically sound, high-quality professional development. For teachers, quality professional development can mean the difference between merely using technology tools and creating transformative change in the classroom. For students — especially those with learning disabilities (SWLDs — having well-prepared teachers can mean the difference between passive listening and active learning. This report discusses implementation and impact of a face-to-face professional development model designed to enhance teachers’ implementation of a web-based curriculum (the SOAR Student Toolkit for teaching online research strategies to all students (both general education students and SWLDs in the middle school classroom. Fifteen teachers and 446 students participated in this study. Data were gathered from three school-based implementations across two academic years. Results indicate that teachers found that the face-to-face professional development was of high quality (100%, the pace and format was appropriate (93%, and sufficient practice and feedback were provided (100%. All teachers said the professional development supported their professional growth in providing differentiated instruction for all students and integrating technology into their instruction. About half of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they were very happy with the use of the SOAR Student Toolkit, found it easy to use, believed it helped them learn online research strategies, and thought it was a good way to teach. Most students said they would use the SOAR Student Toolkit for future research projects at least sometimes. Students who learned the SOAR Student Toolkit from trained teachers improved scores an average of 29.2 percentage points on performance-based assessments, from 31.3% (SD = 22.1 at pretest to 60.5% (SD = 23.0 at

  12. Inclusive Education for Students with Refugee Experience: Whole School Reform in a South Australian Primary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pugh, Karen; Every, Danielle; Hattam, Robert

    2012-01-01

    In recent years, there has been an increase in students with refugee experience in the UK, the US, Europe and Australia. These students face many barriers to education, and appropriately educating this diverse student population presents many challenges to schools and education departments. We argue that a whole of school approach that includes…

  13. Business schools' international networks for faculty development

    OpenAIRE

    Pennarola F.

    2008-01-01

    Business schools are facing ever increasing internationalization: students are far less homogenous than before, faculty members come from different countries, and teaching is carried out in second (or even third) languages. As a result business schools and their teachers wrestle with new challenges as these changes accelerate. Teaching and Learning at Business Schools brings together contributions from business school managers and educators involved in the International Teachers Programm...

  14. Increased Efficiency of Face Recognition System using Wireless Sensor Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajani Muraleedharan

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available This research was inspired by the need of a flexible and cost effective biometric security system. The flexibility of the wireless sensor network makes it a natural choice for data transmission. Swarm intelligence (SI is used to optimize routing in distributed time varying network. In this paper, SI maintains the required bit error rate (BER for varied channel conditions while consuming minimal energy. A specific biometric, the face recognition system, is discussed as an example. Simulation shows that the wireless sensor network is efficient in energy consumption while keeping the transmission accuracy, and the wireless face recognition system is competitive to the traditional wired face recognition system in classification accuracy.

  15. Oxytocin increases bias, but not accuracy, in face recognition line-ups

    OpenAIRE

    Bate, Sarah; Bennetts, Rachel; Parris, Benjamin A.; Bindemann, Markus; Udale, Robert; Bussunt, Amanda

    2014-01-01

    Previous work indicates that intranasal inhalation of oxytocin improves face recognition skills, raising the possibility that it may be used in security settings. However, it is unclear whether oxytocin directly acts upon the core face-processing system itself, or indirectly improves face recognition via affective or social salience mechanisms. In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task – a standardized...

  16. Behavioral and neural evidence of increased attention to the bottom half of the face in deaf signers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Teresa V.; Letourneau, Susan M.; Maslin, Melissa T.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose This study examined the effects of deafness and sign language use on the distribution of attention across the top and bottom halves of faces. Methods In a composite face task, congenitally deaf signers and typically hearing controls made same/different judgments of the top or bottom halves of faces presented with the halves aligned or spatially misaligned, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Results Both groups were more accurate when judging misaligned than aligned faces, which indicates holistic face processing. Misalignment affected all ERP components examined, with effects on the N170 resembling those of face inversion. Hearing adults were similarly accurate when judging the top and bottom halves of the faces, but deaf signers were more accurate when attending to the bottom than the top. Attending to the top elicited faster P1 and N170 latencies for both groups; within the deaf group, this effect was greatest for individuals who produced the highest accuracies when attending to the top. Conclusions These findings dovetail with previous research by providing behavioral and neural evidence of increased attention to the bottom half of the face in deaf signers, and by documenting that these effects generalize to a speeded task, in the absence of gaze shifts, with neutral facial expressions. PMID:23142816

  17. A Comparison of Organizational Structure and Pedagogical Approach: Online versus Face-to-face

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donovan A. McFarlane

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines online versus face-to-face organizational structure and pedagogy in terms of education and the teaching and learning process. The author distinguishes several important terms related to distance/online/e-learning, virtual learning and brick-and-mortar learning interactions and concepts such as asynchronous and synchronous interactions, etc, before deliberating on perceived differences in organizational structure and pedagogical approaches of virtual and brick-and-mortar schools by examining organizational structure, knowledge and pedagogical theories, ideas, and constructs. The roles of mission, vision, and other considerations that contribute to differences between virtual and brick-and-mortar schools are examined. The appropriateness of structure and pedagogy as related to variables such as class size, span of control, and several other factors is discussed. The benefits and drawbacks of both virtual and brick-and-mortar schools are assessed in terms of perceived effectiveness and relation to perceived organizational structural and pedagogical differences before the author presents an informed response to the major thesis of this paper based on pertinent literature and the foregone discussion. After recognizing prevailing practices with regard to organizational structure and pedagogy, and given the pertinent role of technology and several influencing factors such as leadership, and curriculum, among other factors in virtual and brick-and-mortar schools, several recommendations are presented for improving the teaching-learning process.

  18. Comparative Effectiveness of After-School Programs to Increase Physical Activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabina B. Gesell

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. We conducted a comparative effectiveness analysis to evaluate the difference in the amount of physical activity children engaged in when enrolled in a physical activity-enhanced after-school program based in a community recreation center versus a standard school-based after-school program. Methods. The study was a natural experiment with 54 elementary school children attending the community ASP and 37 attending the school-based ASP. Accelerometry was used to measure physical activity. Data were collected at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks, with 91% retention. Results. At baseline, 43% of the multiethnic sample was overweight/obese, and the mean age was 7.9 years (SD = 1.7. Linear latent growth models suggested that the average difference between the two groups of children at Week 12 was 14.7 percentage points in moderate-vigorous physical activity (P<.001. Cost analysis suggested that children attending traditional school-based ASPs—at an average cost of $17.67 per day—would need an additional daily investment of $1.59 per child for 12 weeks to increase their moderate-vigorous physical activity by a model-implied 14.7 percentage points. Conclusions. A low-cost, alternative after-school program featuring adult-led physical activities in a community recreation center was associated with increased physical activity compared to standard-of-care school-based after-school program.

  19. The Influence of Various Factors on High School Football Helmet Face Mask Removal: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swartz, Erik E; Decoster, Laura C; Norkus, Susan A; Cappaert, Thomas A

    2007-01-01

    Context: Most research on face mask removal has been performed on unused equipment. Objective: To identify and compare factors that influence the condition of helmet components and their relationship to face mask removal. Design: A cross-sectional, retrospective study. Setting: Five athletic equipment reconditioning/recertification facilities. Participants: 2584 helmets from 46 high school football teams representing 5 geographic regions. Intervention(s): Helmet characteristics (brand, model, hardware components) were recorded. Helmets were mounted and face mask removal was attempted using a cordless screwdriver. The 2004 season profiles and weather histories were obtained for each high school. Main Outcome Measure(s): Success and failure (including reason) for removal of 4 screws from the face mask were noted. Failure rates among regions, teams, reconditioning year, and screw color (type) were compared. Weather histories were compared. We conducted a discriminant analysis to determine if weather variables, region, helmet brand and model, reconditioning year, and screw color could predict successful face mask removal. Metallurgic analysis of screw samples was performed. Results: All screws were successfully removed from 2165 (84%) helmets. At least 1 screw could not be removed from 419 (16%) helmets. Significant differences were found for mean screw failure per helmet among the 5 regions, with the Midwest having the lowest failure rate (0.08 ± 0.38) and the Southern (0.33 ± 0.72), the highest. Differences were found in screw failure rates among the 46 teams (F1,45 = 9.4, P < .01). Helmets with the longest interval since last reconditioning (3 years) had the highest failure rate, 0.47 ± 0.93. Differences in success rates were found among 4 screw types (χ21,4 = 647, P < .01), with silver screws having the lowest percentage of failures (3.4%). A discriminant analysis (Λ = .932, χ214,n=2584 = 175.34, P < .001) revealed screw type to be the strongest predictor of

  20. Development and Initial Validation of the Student Rating of Environmental Stressors Scale: Stressors Faced by Students in Accelerated High School Curricula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suldo, Shannon M.; Dedrick, Robert F.; Shaunessy-Dedrick, Elizabeth; Roth, Rachel A.; Ferron, John

    2015-01-01

    High school students in accelerated curricula face stressors beyond typical adolescent developmental challenges. The Student Rating of Environmental Stressors Scale (StRESS) is a self-report measure of environmental stressors appropriate for students in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. We developed the StRESS…

  1. EXPLORING THE PROBLEMS FACED BY TECHNICAL SCHOOL STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGINEERING COURSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RAMLEE MUSTAPHA

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The teaching of engineering courses is relatively challenging due to the nature of the courses that are perceived as “difficult courses” by a number of students. Thus, the purpose of this action research was to explore the problems faced by electrical and electronic engineering (PKEE students studying a difficult topic–transistor. This research was also aimed at identifying the students’ attitude towards Problem-based Learning (PBL. Literature has shown that PBL could enhance students’ understanding and make the learning more meaningful. The theoretical framework of this study was based on Kemmis and Mc Taggart model. Cooperative learning method was also utilised in this study consisted of Jigsaw technique in the first and second rounds of the study. In the final round, the discussion method was used. In an action research design, a classroom is a usual research site. Thus, an engineering class of 30 Form 5 students in a Technical School was selected. The PBL method was applied in the class for a nine-week duration. Empirical data were gathered from peer assessment, observation, and pre- and post-tests. The data were described descriptively using frequency, mean and standard deviation. The main results show that the students were more interactive and their post-test result shows significant increases. In terms of the attitude towards PBL, the participants rated PBL highly. The participants also assert that the main benefits of PBL include enhancing their collaborative and problem-solving skills.

  2. The Effect of Tuition Increases on Business Student Decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godek, John; Murray, Kyle B.; Karns, Gary

    2015-01-01

    Tuition increases have become all too common as states have cut spending to public institutions and private schools face declining enrollments. As such, understanding the effects of various methods of framing tuition increases is an important, but infrequently researched topic. The authors examine different ways to frame tuition increases…

  3. Increased fusiform area activation in schizophrenia during processing of spatial frequency-degraded faces, as revealed by fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silverstein, S M; All, S D; Kasi, R; Berten, S; Essex, B; Lathrop, K L; Little, D M

    2010-07-01

    People with schizophrenia demonstrate perceptual organization impairments, and these are thought to contribute to their face processing difficulties. We examined the neural substrates of emotionally neutral face processing in schizophrenia by investigating neural activity under three stimulus conditions: faces characterized by the full spectrum of spatial frequencies, faces with low spatial frequency information removed [high spatial frequency (HSF) condition], and faces with high spatial frequency information removed [low spatial frequency (LSF) condition]. Face perception in the HSF condition is more reliant on local feature processing whereas perception in the LSF condition requires greater reliance on global form processing. Past studies of perceptual organization in schizophrenia indicate that patients perform relatively more poorly with degraded stimuli but also that, when global information is absent, patients may perform better than controls because of their relatively increased ability to initially process individual features. Therefore, we hypothesized that people with schizophrenia (n=14) would demonstrate greater face processing difficulties than controls (n=13) in the LSF condition, whereas they would demonstrate a smaller difference or superior performance in the HSF condition. In a gender-discrimination task, behavioral data indicated high levels of accuracy for both groups, with a trend toward an interaction involving higher patient performance in the HSF condition and poorer patient performance in the LSF condition. Patients demonstrated greater activity in the fusiform gyrus compared to controls in both degraded conditions. These data suggest that impairments in basic integration abilities may be compensated for by relatively increased activity in this region.

  4. The Challenges Faced by New Science Teachers in Saudi Arabia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alsharari, Salman

    Growing demand for science teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, fed by increasing numbers of public school students, is forcing the Saudi government to attract, recruit and retain well-qualified science teachers. Beginning science teachers enter the educational profession with a massive fullfilment and satisfaction in their roles and positions as teachers to educating children in a science classroom. Nevertheless, teachers, over their early years of practice, encounter numerous challenges to provide the most effective science instruction. Therefore, the current study was aimed to identify academic and behavioral classroom challenges faced by science teachers in their first three years of teaching in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In addition, new science teacher gender, school level and years of teaching experience differences in perceptions of the challenges that they encountered at work were analyzed. The present study also investigated various types of support that new science teachers may need to overcome academic and behavioral classroom challenges. In order to gain insights about ways to adequately support novice science teachers, it was important to examine new science teachers' beliefs, ideas and perceptions about effective science teaching. Three survey questionnaires were developed and distributed to teachers of both sexes who have been teaching science subjects, for less than three years, to elementary, middle and high school students in Al Jouf public schools. A total of 49 novice science teachers responded to the survey and 9 of them agreed to participate voluntarily in a face-to-face interview. Different statistical procedures and multiple qualitative methodologies were used to analyze the collected data. Findings suggested that the top three academic challenges faced by new science teachers were: poor quality of teacher preparation programs, absence of appropriate school equipment and facilities and lack of classroom materials and instructional

  5. International School Director Turnover as Influenced by School Board/Director Relationship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palsha, Zakariya S.

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, public school superintendents have faced increased demands from rigorous federal and state accountability standards. Yet, researchers have reported that academic improvement does not happen by chance but rather through effective leaders with ample time to implement broad, sustainable reform. The purpose of this study was to…

  6. Face-to-Face Interference in Typical and Atypical Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riby, Deborah M.; Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth; Whittle, Lisa

    2012-01-01

    Visual communication cues facilitate interpersonal communication. It is important that we look at faces to retrieve and subsequently process such cues. It is also important that we sometimes look away from faces as they increase cognitive load that may interfere with online processing. Indeed, when typically developing individuals hold face gaze…

  7. Evaluation of a School-Based Transition Program Designed to Facilitate School Reentry Following a Mental Health Crisis or Psychiatric Hospitalization

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Henry; LaFleur, Jennifer; Houle, Katherine; Hyry-Dermith, Paul; Blake, Susan M.

    2017-01-01

    In recent decades, increasing attention has been paid to the number of adolescents experiencing extended absences from school due to mental health crises. Upon returning to school, these students often face difficulties in functioning, risk of relapse, and vulnerability to academic failure and social isolation. This paper presents results of a…

  8. Colleges Struggle to Dispose of Hazardous Wastes in Face of Rising Costs and Increased Regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magner, Denise K.

    1989-01-01

    After years of being ignored by federal regulators because of the low volume of hazardous waste in question, colleges and universities are facing increased enforcement of environmental laws concerning waste disposal and storage, at great cost in money, facilities, and personnel. (MSE)

  9. School Violence: 10 Things Legislators Need To Know.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomerson, Julie

    In the wake of increasing concern regarding school safety, state lawmakers will be faced with difficult decisions regarding statewide policies and the funding of local programs. To assist lawmakers with this process, this report provides an overview of the most prominent issues legislators may face, as well as a framework within which to address…

  10. A Case Study: Are Traditional Face-To-Face Lectures Still Relevant When Teaching Engineering Courses?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LillAnne Jackson

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available In this rapidly changing age, with virtually all information available on the Internet including courses, students may not find any reason to physically attend the lectures. In spite of the many benefits the online lectures and materials bring to teaching, this drift from the traditional (norm face-to-face lectures is also creating further barriers, such as difficulty in communicating and building personal relationships, between students and instructor. In this paper we carry out a study that presents and analyzes factors that motivate students to attend a (1 face-to-face instruction in-class versus an (2 online class. This study is based on an anonymous and voluntary survey that was conducted in the School of Engineering at University of Victoria, BC, Canada. This paper presents and shares the detailed results and analysis of this survey that also includes some interesting and useful comments from the students. Based on the results, analysis and comments the paper suggests methodologies of how to improve face-to-face in-class instructions to make them more relevant to the current global information age.

  11. Do international flights promote FDI? : the role of face-to-face communication

    OpenAIRE

    Tanaka, Kiyoyasu

    2016-01-01

    Air transportation facilitates face-to-face interactions across borders for the spatial expansion of manufacturing production. I investigate the impact of international flights on FDI entry by Japanese firms. I find that FDI entry significantly increases with the weekly frequency of flights from Japan, and the positive impact increases with a proxy for an intensity of face-to-face communication between the parent firm and foreign affiliate. The results are robust to estimation methods, additi...

  12. Girls in Foster Care: Risk and Promotive Factors for School Adjustment Across the Transition to Middle School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pears, Katherine C; Kim, Hyoun K; Leve, Leslie D

    2012-01-01

    Girls in foster care may face difficulties across the transition to middle school. Latent growth curve modeling was employed to examine trajectories and predictors of academic competence and aggression from and against peers for 75 girls in foster care from the end of elementary school to the 2(nd) year of middle school. Across the transition to middle school, academic competence increased. Poor self-regulation was associated with decreased academic competence, and higher caregiver support was associated with increased academic competence. Frequency of aggression from peers decreased across the transition, with perceived school competence predicting smaller decreases. Aggression against peers dropped initially and then increased to pretransition levels by the end of the 2(nd) year of middle school. Lower caregiver support was associated with higher rates of aggression against peers at the end of the 1(st) year of middle school. The results are discussed in terms of implications for interventions for girls in foster care.

  13. Neonatal face-to-face interactions promote later social behaviour in infant rhesus monkeys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dettmer, Amanda M.; Kaburu, Stefano S. K.; Simpson, Elizabeth A.; Paukner, Annika; Sclafani, Valentina; Byers, Kristen L.; Murphy, Ashley M.; Miller, Michelle; Marquez, Neal; Miller, Grace M.; Suomi, Stephen J.; Ferrari, Pier F.

    2016-01-01

    In primates, including humans, mothers engage in face-to-face interactions with their infants, with frequencies varying both within and across species. However, the impact of this variation in face-to-face interactions on infant social development is unclear. Here we report that infant monkeys (Macaca mulatta) who engaged in more neonatal face-to-face interactions with mothers have increased social interactions at 2 and 5 months. In a controlled experiment, we show that this effect is not due to physical contact alone: monkeys randomly assigned to receive additional neonatal face-to-face interactions (mutual gaze and intermittent lip-smacking) with human caregivers display increased social interest at 2 months, compared with monkeys who received only additional handling. These studies suggest that face-to-face interactions from birth promote young primate social interest and competency. PMID:27300086

  14. Occupational Stressors and Job Satisfaction of Pennsylvania School District Superintendents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Kevin T.

    2017-01-01

    Today's superintendents face increasingly non-routine and complex problems that are educational, managerial, and political in nature. This study investigated occupational stressors and job satisfaction of school superintendents in Pennsylvania. This was accomplished through self-report of superintendents and through the perspective of school board…

  15. Building a School Leadership Programme: An American Paradox of Autonomy and Accountability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyes-Guerra, Daniel; Russo, Marianne R.; Bogotch, Ira E.; Vásquez-Colina, Maria D.

    2014-01-01

    School districts within the USA face ever-decreasing autonomy in rendering decisions regarding instruction, curriculum and the leading and managing of schools at the local level due to the ever-increasing accountability measures implemented by district, state and federal governments. This study investigates a joint university-school district…

  16. Neural correlates of own- and other-race face recognition in children: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Xiao Pan; Fu, Genyue; Lee, Kang

    2014-01-15

    The present study used the functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) methodology to investigate the neural correlates of elementary school children's own- and other-race face processing. An old-new paradigm was used to assess children's recognition ability of own- and other-race faces. FNIRS data revealed that other-race faces elicited significantly greater [oxy-Hb] changes than own-race faces in the right middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus regions (BA9) and the left cuneus (BA18). With increased age, the [oxy-Hb] activity differences between own- and other-race faces, or the neural other-race effect (NORE), underwent significant changes in these two cortical areas: at younger ages, the neural response to the other-race faces was modestly greater than that to the own-race faces, but with increased age, the neural response to the own-race faces became increasingly greater than that to the other-race faces. Moreover, these areas had strong regional functional connectivity with a swath of the cortical regions in terms of the neural other-race effect that also changed with increased age. We also found significant and positive correlations between the behavioral other-race effect (reaction time) and the neural other-race effect in the right middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus regions (BA9). These results taken together suggest that children, like adults, devote different amounts of neural resources to processing own- and other-race faces, but the size and direction of the neural other-race effect and associated functional regional connectivity change with increased age. © 2013.

  17. Developmental Changes in Mother-Infant Face-to-Face Communication: Birth to 3 Months.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavelli, Manuela; Fogel, Alan

    2002-01-01

    Investigated development of face-to-face communication in infants between 1 and 14 weeks old and their mothers. Found a curvilinear development of early face-to-face communication, with increases occurring between weeks 4 and 9. When placed on a sofa, infants' face-to-face communication was longer than when they were held. Girls spent a longer…

  18. Enhanced attention amplifies face adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhodes, Gillian; Jeffery, Linda; Evangelista, Emma; Ewing, Louise; Peters, Marianne; Taylor, Libby

    2011-08-15

    Perceptual adaptation not only produces striking perceptual aftereffects, but also enhances coding efficiency and discrimination by calibrating coding mechanisms to prevailing inputs. Attention to simple stimuli increases adaptation, potentially enhancing its functional benefits. Here we show that attention also increases adaptation to faces. In Experiment 1, face identity aftereffects increased when attention to adapting faces was increased using a change detection task. In Experiment 2, figural (distortion) face aftereffects increased when attention was increased using a snap game (detecting immediate repeats) during adaptation. Both were large effects. Contributions of low-level adaptation were reduced using free viewing (both experiments) and a size change between adapt and test faces (Experiment 2). We suggest that attention may enhance adaptation throughout the entire cortical visual pathway, with functional benefits well beyond the immediate advantages of selective processing of potentially important stimuli. These results highlight the potential to facilitate adaptive updating of face-coding mechanisms by strategic deployment of attentional resources. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Challenges and Opportunities Facing Technology Education in Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Lung-Sheng Steven

    2009-01-01

    The technology education in Taiwan is prescribed in the national curriculum and provided to all students in grades 1-12. However, it faces the following challenges: (1) Lack of worthy image, (2) Inadequate teachers in elementary schools, (3) Deficient teaching vitality in secondary schools, and (4) Diluted technology teacher education programs. In…

  20. Integrating Cloud-Based Strategies and Tools in Face-to-Face Training Sessions to Increase the Impact of Professional Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gradel, Kathleen; Edson, Alden J.

    2012-01-01

    This article is based on the premise that face-to-face training can be augmented with cloud-based technology tools, to potentially extend viable training supports as higher education staff and faculty implement new content/skills in their jobs and classrooms. There are significant benefits to harnessing cloud-based tools that can facilitate both…

  1. The Relationship between Principals' Leadership Styles and School Culture, as Assessed by Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Lessie Marquita

    2016-01-01

    Leadership and school culture are two factors that have a great impact in schools today. Much research has focused on leaders, but more is needed on the culture of schools. Improving both elements of leadership and school culture may also increase other challenges that schools face such as student achievement. The purpose of this study was to…

  2. Governance and Leadership in Public Schools: Opportunities and Challenges Facing School Leaders in Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paletta, Angelo; Bezzina, Christopher

    2016-01-01

    This article aims to explore the evolution of school leadership in Italy toward a model of leadership for learning. Italy is undergoing radical changes in the governance structures (school autonomy and accountability) affecting schools in general, and school principals in particular, based on the way they promote, manage, and monitor the…

  3. As sutilezas das faces da violência nas práticas escolares de adolescentes The subtleties of the faces of violence in the school practices of adolescents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luiza Mitiko Yshiguro Camacho

    2001-06-01

    Full Text Available Este artigo busca lançar um olhar sobre a vida escolar de adolescentes de classes médias e de segmentos das elites, incidindo, porém, sobre a prática de violência contra seus pares em duas escolas da cidade de Vitória-ES, sendo uma pública e outra privada. A pesquisa constituiu-se em um estudo de natureza eminentemente qualitativa, que no entanto valeu-se também de dados quantitativos. No trabalho de campo os dados foram colhidos por meio das técnicas da observação, questionário e entrevistas individuais e em grupos e, também, por meio de depoimentos e da consulta a documentos. O estudo permitiu constatar que nas duas escolas investigadas as ações socializadoras incidem muito mais sobre o aspecto pedagógico do que na proposta educativa, que é deixada em segundo plano. Onde se constata a ausência de uma ampla abrangência da socialização, a escola não funciona como retradutora dos valores sociais e termina por permitir que idéias de discriminação e preconceito, por exemplo, invadam e se estabeleçam no espaço escolar. A falta de alcance da ação socializadora até o ambiente relacional promove o aparecimento de brechas que permitem aos alunos a construção de experiências escolares, dentre elas, a experiência da violência. Com todos os encontros e desencontros entre as escolas, observou-se que o ponto decisivo de convergência entre ambas é a presença da prática da violência, ainda que, em intensidade distinta e com faces envolvidas por sutis especificidades.The proposal of this article is to cast a look upon the school life of middle and upper class adolescents focusing, however, on their practice of violence against their peers in two schools - one public, one private - in Vitória, capital of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The investigation consisted of an qualitative study, but has also used some quantitative data. In the fieldwork data was gathered through observation, questionnaires, group and individual

  4. Characteristics of effective schools in facing and reducing bullying

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kyriakides, Leonidas; Creemers, Bert Peter Maria

    This article examines whether variation in school effectiveness in terms of reducing bullying can be attributed to differences in their classroom and school learning environment. All 6th grade students (n = 1504) of 35 primary schools in Cyprus participated in this study. The revised Olweus

  5. The Challenges facing Women aspiring for School Leadership ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... managers; problems encountered by women principals; and women's experiences relating to support for a manager's position.The study shows that although the professional profile of women in management posts differs from that of their male counterparts in schools, women can also effectively lead and manage schools.

  6. Going Solar in Green Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domine, Mark

    2011-01-01

    These are tough economic times, and few groups are more cognizant of this than school and university administrators. Struggling with significantly smaller operating budgets, institutions are faced with the harsh realities of laying off qualified teachers and staff, increasing class sizes, limiting or eliminating valuable programs and, in some…

  7. Preferences for Online and/or Face-to-Face Counseling among University Students in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Kah P; Bonn, Gregory; Tam, Cai L; Wong, Chee P

    2018-01-01

    Increasingly, online counseling is considered to be a cost-effective and highly accessible method of providing basic counseling and mental health services. To examine the potential of online delivery as a way of increasing overall usage of services, this study looked at students' attitudes toward and likelihood of using both online and/or face-to-face counseling. A survey was conducted with 409 students from six universities in Malaysia participating. Approximately 35% of participants reported that they would be likely to utilize online counseling services but would be unlikely to participate in face-to-face counseling. Based on these results, it is suggested that offering online counseling, in addition to face-to-face services, could be an effective way for many university counseling centers to increase the utilization of their services and thus better serve their communities.

  8. Preferences for Online and/or Face-to-Face Counseling among University Students in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kah P. Wong

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Increasingly, online counseling is considered to be a cost-effective and highly accessible method of providing basic counseling and mental health services. To examine the potential of online delivery as a way of increasing overall usage of services, this study looked at students’ attitudes toward and likelihood of using both online and/or face-to-face counseling. A survey was conducted with 409 students from six universities in Malaysia participating. Approximately 35% of participants reported that they would be likely to utilize online counseling services but would be unlikely to participate in face-to-face counseling. Based on these results, it is suggested that offering online counseling, in addition to face-to-face services, could be an effective way for many university counseling centers to increase the utilization of their services and thus better serve their communities.

  9. Functional Brain Activation to Emotional and non-Emotional Faces in Healthy Children: Evidence for Developmentally Undifferentiated Amygdala Function During the School Age Period

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagliaccio, David; Luby, Joan L.; Gaffrey, Michael S.; Belden, Andrew C.; Botteron, Kelly N.; Harms, Michael P.; Barch, Deanna M.

    2013-01-01

    The amygdala is a key region in emotion processing. Particularly, fMRI studies have demonstrated that the amygdala is active during the viewing of emotional faces. Previous research has consistently found greater amygdala responses to fearful faces as compared to neutral faces in adults, convergent with a focus in the animal literature on the amygdala's role in fear processing. Studies have found that the amygdala also responds differentially to other facial emotion types in adults. Yet, the literature regarding when this differential amygdala responsivity develops is limited and mixed. Thus, the goal of current study was to examine amygdala responses to emotional and neutral faces in a relatively large sample of healthy school age children (N = 52). While the amygdala was active in response to emotional and neutral faces, the results do not support the hypothesis that the amygdala responds differentially to emotional faces in 7 – 12 year old children. Nonetheless, amygdala activity was correlated with the severity of subclinical depression symptoms and emotional regulation skills. Additionally, sex differences were observed in frontal, temporal, and visual regions as well as effects of pubertal development in visual regions. These findings suggest important differences in amygdala reactivity in childhood. PMID:23636982

  10. Stress-Prevention in Secondary Schools: Online- versus Face-to-Face-Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fridrici, Mirko; Lohaus, Arnold

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the evaluation of an internet-delivered stress-prevention program for adolescents as a possible alternative for school-based implementation of mental health promotion. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 904 adolescents in grades eight and nine were assigned to four treatment conditions…

  11. The effect of CBT national examination policy in terms of senior high school students’ cognitive readiness and anxiety facing mathematics tests in DIY Province

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eny Sulistyaningsih

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of CBT and PBT national examination in terms of students’ cognitive readiness and anxiety facing mathematics national examination in DIY province, the influence of major in terms of students’ cognitive readiness and anxiety facing mathematics national examination in DIY Province, and the interaction between national examination and major. This research was descriptive explorative and the method was ex-post facto. The population was all of natural and social science high school students in grade XII in DIY province. The number of sample used was 654 students The results showed that there was influence of national examination in terms of students’ cognitive readiness and anxiety facing national examination. CBT and PBT national examination did not influence the cognitive readiness facing national examination, CBT and PBT national examination influence in national examinations in terms of students’ anxiety facing national examination. The average score of the students’ anxiety facing CBT national exam was greater than that of the students’ anxiety facing PBT national examination. There was no effect caused by differences in majoring in terms of cognitive readiness and national examination math anxiety; and there was no interaction between the different types of national examinations and majors.

  12. Developmental changes in analytic and holistic processes in face perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Jane E; DiBartolo, Michelle D; Bhatt, Ramesh S

    2015-01-01

    Although infants demonstrate sensitivity to some kinds of perceptual information in faces, many face capacities continue to develop throughout childhood. One debate is the degree to which children perceive faces analytically versus holistically and how these processes undergo developmental change. In the present study, school-aged children and adults performed a perceptual matching task with upright and inverted face and house pairs that varied in similarity of featural or 2(nd) order configural information. Holistic processing was operationalized as the degree of serial processing when discriminating faces and houses [i.e., increased reaction time (RT), as more features or spacing relations were shared between stimuli]. Analytical processing was operationalized as the degree of parallel processing (or no change in RT as a function of greater similarity of features or spatial relations). Adults showed the most evidence for holistic processing (most strongly for 2(nd) order faces) and holistic processing was weaker for inverted faces and houses. Younger children (6-8 years), in contrast, showed analytical processing across all experimental manipulations. Older children (9-11 years) showed an intermediate pattern with a trend toward holistic processing of 2(nd) order faces like adults, but parallel processing in other experimental conditions like younger children. These findings indicate that holistic face representations emerge around 10 years of age. In adults both 2(nd) order and featural information are incorporated into holistic representations, whereas older children only incorporate 2(nd) order information. Holistic processing was not evident in younger children. Hence, the development of holistic face representations relies on 2(nd) order processing initially then incorporates featural information by adulthood.

  13. Developmental changes in analytic and holistic processes in face perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jane Elizabeth Joseph

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Although infants demonstrate sensitivity to some kinds of perceptual information in faces, many face capacities continue to develop throughout childhood. One debate is the degree to which children perceive faces analytically versus holistically and how these processes undergo developmental change. In the present study, school-aged children and adults performed a perceptual matching task with upright and inverted face and house pairs that varied in similarity of featural or 2nd order configural information. Holistic processing was operationalized as the degree of serial processing when discriminating faces and houses (i.e., increased reaction time, RT, as more features or spacing relations were shared between stimuli. Analytical processing was operationalized as the degree of parallel processing (or no change in reaction time as a function of greater similarity of features or spatial relations. Adults showed the most evidence for holistic processing (most strongly for 2nd order faces and holistic processing was weaker for inverted faces and houses. Younger children (6-8 years, in contrast, showed analytical processing across all experimental manipulations. Older children (9-11 years showed an intermediate pattern with a trend toward holistic processing of 2nd order faces like adults, but parallel processing in other experimental conditions like younger children. These findings indicate that holistic face representations emerge around 10 years of age. In adults both 2nd order and featural information are incorporated into holistic representations, whereas older children only incorporate 2nd order information. Holistic processing was not evident in younger children. Hence, the development of holistic face representations relies on 2nd order processing initially then incorporates featural information by adulthood.

  14. Developmental changes in analytic and holistic processes in face perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Jane E.; DiBartolo, Michelle D.; Bhatt, Ramesh S.

    2015-01-01

    Although infants demonstrate sensitivity to some kinds of perceptual information in faces, many face capacities continue to develop throughout childhood. One debate is the degree to which children perceive faces analytically versus holistically and how these processes undergo developmental change. In the present study, school-aged children and adults performed a perceptual matching task with upright and inverted face and house pairs that varied in similarity of featural or 2nd order configural information. Holistic processing was operationalized as the degree of serial processing when discriminating faces and houses [i.e., increased reaction time (RT), as more features or spacing relations were shared between stimuli]. Analytical processing was operationalized as the degree of parallel processing (or no change in RT as a function of greater similarity of features or spatial relations). Adults showed the most evidence for holistic processing (most strongly for 2nd order faces) and holistic processing was weaker for inverted faces and houses. Younger children (6–8 years), in contrast, showed analytical processing across all experimental manipulations. Older children (9–11 years) showed an intermediate pattern with a trend toward holistic processing of 2nd order faces like adults, but parallel processing in other experimental conditions like younger children. These findings indicate that holistic face representations emerge around 10 years of age. In adults both 2nd order and featural information are incorporated into holistic representations, whereas older children only incorporate 2nd order information. Holistic processing was not evident in younger children. Hence, the development of holistic face representations relies on 2nd order processing initially then incorporates featural information by adulthood. PMID:26300838

  15. The New Orleans OneApp: Centralized Enrollment Matches Students and Schools of Choice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Douglas N.; Valant, Jon; Gross, Betheny

    2015-01-01

    In most of the U.S., the process for assigning children to public schools is straightforward: take a student's home address, determine which school serves that address, and assign the student accordingly. However, states and cities are increasingly providing families with school choices. A key question facing policymakers is exactly how to place…

  16. Increased provision of udeskole in Danish schools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barfod, Karen Seierøe; Ejbye-Ernst, Niels; Mygind, Lærke

    2016-01-01

    Education outside the classroom (EOtC) has the potential to increase children's learning, physical activity, social relations, school motivation, and well-being. In Denmark, EOtC has undergone a rapid development from a grassroots movement to part of a top-down reform in public schools. It is the...... with this practice may lack the necessary competence to practice it. We argue that the widespread use of green space and nearby environment in teaching should be reflected in initial teacher training, connecting educational planning and green space management....

  17. Issues and Challenges Facing School Libraries in Selected Primary Schools in Gauteng Province, South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paton-Ash, Margie; Wilmot, Di

    2015-01-01

    There is no national policy for school libraries which compels school governing bodies and principals to have a library in their schools. It is thus not surprising that in 2011, only 21% of state schools had libraries, only 7% had stocked libraries and 79% of schools had no library at all (Department of Basic Education (DBE) Republic of South…

  18. Alternatives for Young School-Leavers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qamar, M. Kalim

    1983-01-01

    To produce skilled manpower and reduce its reliance on foreigners, Papua New Guinea has increased access to education. But the country has lately been facing the problem of youth leaving school, along with problems of mass unemployment, rural-urban migration, and crime. Strategies to solve these problems are discussed. (IS)

  19. Neonatal face-to-face interactions promote later social behaviour in infant rhesus monkeys

    OpenAIRE

    Dettmer, Amanda M.; Kaburu, Stefano S. K.; Simpson, Elizabeth A.; Paukner, Annika; Sclafani, Valentina; Byers, Kristen L.; Murphy, Ashley M.; Miller, Michelle; Marquez, Neal; Miller, Grace M.; Suomi, Stephen J.; Ferrari, Pier F.

    2016-01-01

    In primates, including humans, mothers engage in face-to-face interactions with their infants, with frequencies varying both within and across species. However, the impact of this variation in face-to-face interactions on infant social development is unclear. Here we report that infant monkeys (Macaca mulatta) who engaged in more neonatal face-to-face interactions with mothers have increased social interactions at 2 and 5 months. In a controlled experiment, we show that this effect is not due...

  20. Women of Color School Leaders: Leadership Schools Should Not Ignore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haar, Jean M.; Robicheau, Jerry W.

    2009-01-01

    School districts are faced with challenges resulting from the changing demographics of the student population. Consequently, school districts are creating positive, multicultural learning environments. School districts intent on establishing multicultural learning environments should consider the contributions people of color, specifically women…

  1. Combining Face-to-Face Learning with Online Learning in Virtual Worlds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berns, Anke; Gonzalez-Pardo, Antonio; Camacho, David

    2012-01-01

    This paper focuses on the development of videogame-like applications in a 3D virtual environment as a complement to the face-to-face teaching and learning. With the changing role of teaching and learning and the increasing use of "blended learning," instructors are increasingly expected to explore new ways to attend to the needs of their…

  2. Implementation of strategies to increase adolescents' access to fruit and vegetables at school

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aarestrup, Anne Kristine; Jørgensen, Thea Suldrup; Jørgensen, Sanne Ellegaard

    2015-01-01

    schools. METHODS: We used data from 20 intervention schools involved in the school-based multicomponent Boost trial targeting 13-year-olds' FV consumption. The environmental components at school included daily provision of free FV and promotion of a pleasant eating environment. Questionnaire data......BACKGROUND: Access to fruit and vegetables (FV) is associated with adolescents' FV consumption. However, little is known about implementation of strategies to increase access to FV at schools. We examined the implementation of two environmental components designed to increase access to FV at Danish...... was collected by the end of the nine-month intervention period among 1,121 pupils (95%), from all school principals (n = 20) and half way through the intervention period and by the end of the intervention among 114 teachers (44%). The implementation of the components was examined descriptively using...

  3. A study of a museum-school partnership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wojton, Mary Ann

    Partnerships between museums and schools never have been more important than they are today. Schools, especially urban schools, are facing challenges, including low student achievement and difficulty obtaining funding. Partners can help schools overcome these challenges by sharing educational and financial resources. Nearly 11,000 American museums spend more than $1 billion annually to provide over 18 million instructional hours for k-12 educational programs such as professional development for teachers, guided field trips, and staff visits to schools. Museums would seem like natural partners for challenged urban schools. Yet museums and schools struggle to establish and maintain effective partnerships. This study examined a partnership between a science center and an urban elementary school to provide additional knowledge and resources for those in the field to overcome these challenges in order to create relationships that help students. Using qualitative methods with interpretive descriptive purposes (Erickson, 1986; Glesne, 1999; Lincoln & Guba, 2000), the research design is based on several methods of data collection, including face-to-face, semi-structured interviews; observations; written text; and field notes. Participants in this study included students, parents, teachers, school administrators and museum educators. In addition, adult representatives of community organizations were interviewed to determine the impact of the partnership on the community. The study found that an effective partnership will have four basic elements: mutual goals, communication plan, key leader support, planning and research, and four interpersonal elements: personal responsibility, honesty, communication at the intimate level, and trust. Partners may have difficulty developing these to their fullest extent due to time limitations. No partnership is perfect. By creating strong interpersonal relationships, partners can mitigate challenges caused by limited basic elements and

  4. Increasing Diversity in K-12 School Leadership. Policy Brief 2018-3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro, Andrene; Germain, Emily; Gooden, Mark

    2018-01-01

    Principals represent the most "visible" form of leadership in schools, but current workforce data show that K-12 school principals are overwhelmingly white and fail to reflect the diversity within the student population. With increased policy focus on teacher diversity, equal attention must also be directed towards the lack of diversity…

  5. Mass customization in schools : strategies Dutch secondary schools pursue to cope with the diversity-efficiency dilemma

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Waslander, Sietske

    Faced with the diversity efficiency dilemma, private companies apply 'mass customization' strategies to add diversity without adding costs. As schools are urged to become more 'customer oriented' they also face a diversity-efficiency dilemma. This article asks how Dutch secondary schools cope with

  6. Improving Posthospital Discharge Telephone Reach Rates Through Prehospital Discharge Face-to-Face Meetings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vergara, Franz H; Sheridan, Daniel J; Sullivan, Nancy J; Budhathoki, Chakra

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether a face-to-face meeting with patients by a telephonic case manager prehospital discharge would result in increased telephone follow-up (TFU) reach rates posthospital discharge. Acute care adult medicine inpatient units. A quasiexperimental design was utilized. Two adult inpatient medicine units were selected as the intervention and comparison groups. The framework of the study is the transitions theory. A convenience sampling technique was used, whereby 88 eligible patients on the intervention unit received face-to-face meetings prehospital discharge whereas 123 patients on the comparison unit received standard care (no face-to-face meetings). Cross-tabulation and chi-square tests were employed to examine the association of face-to-face meeting intervention and TFU reach rates. Implementing brief (face-to-face meetings by a telephonic case manager prehospital discharge resulted in a TFU reach rate of 87% on the intervention unit, whereas the comparison unit only had a 58% TFU reach rate (p communication with more patients posthospital discharge. A brief prehospital discharge face-to-face meeting with patients assisted them to understand the reasons for a posthospital discharge telephone call, identified the best times to call using accurate telephone numbers, and taught patients how best to prepare for the call. In addition, by meeting patients face-to-face, the telephonic case manager was no longer an unknown person on the telephone asking them questions about their medical condition. These factors combined may have significantly helped to increase TFU reach rates.

  7. Vulnerability and Risk of Agro-ecosystems Facing Increased Salinity Intrusion in the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renaud, F.; Sebesvari, Z.; Nguyen, M. T.; Hagenlocher, M.

    2016-12-01

    The Vietnamese portion of the Mekong Delta increasingly suffers from salinity intrusion in its freshwater system, as exemplified by the historically high salinity levels recorded during the 2016 dry season. Although this exceptional situation was linked to the El Niño phenomena, many factors contribute to an increasing salinization of coastal areas. Salinity intrusion is a natural process in this tidal area but its extent is increasing and projected to worsen due to increased demand for water, diversion/storage of water flows in the Mekong river and its tributaries, land subsidence linked to groundwater over-abstraction, changes in land use and water management in coastal areas, and sea level rise. The Mekong Delta remains predominantly an agricultural landscape which contributes the majority of the rice, aquaculture, and fruit production of the country. These systems will need to be adapted to increased salinity levels. We will present results from two research projects, DeltAdapt and DELTAS, which were designed to allow understanding of, respectively (1) the main drivers of change of agro-ecosystems in coastal areas of the delta and (2) the relative vulnerabilities and risks deltaic social-ecological systems face with respect to various environmental hazards. We used the Global Delta Vulnerability Index developed within the DELTAS project to characterize the vulnerabilities and risks faced by coastal provinces of the delta with respect to salinity intrusion. The analysis allows us to understand which social, economic, and ecological variables index explain the relative vulnerability of the provinces. In addition, drivers of change (e.g. policy, economic, social, environmental) of coastal agro-ecosystems were systematically analyzed through 80 interviews and 7 focus group discussions in the provinces of Kien Giang and Soc Trang within the DeltAdapt project. This was combined with the analysis of Vietnamese policies to determine which are the important drivers of

  8. Increasing Epilepsy Awareness in Schools: A Seizure Smart Schools Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brook, Heather A.; Hiltz, Cynthia M.; Kopplin, Vicki L.; Lindeke, Linda L.

    2015-01-01

    A high prevalence of epilepsy diagnoses and seizure events among students was identified at a large Midwestern school district. In partnership with the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota (EFMN), a quality improvement project was conducted to provide education and resources to staff caring for school children with seizures. School nurses (N = 26)…

  9. Will a game cause increased fruit/vegetable intake and physical activity in elementary school children?

    OpenAIRE

    Trimble, Derek

    2017-01-01

    Background Incentives increase healthy lifestyle choices. Schools don’t have financial resources for an incentive program. Research Question Is there a way to increase fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity in elementary school children at little or no cost to the school?

  10. Hybrid Schools for the iGeneration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulte, Brigid

    2011-01-01

    Carpe Diem, a public charter school, is an entirely new type of school and one of only a handful of its kind in the U.S. They seek to combine the best of traditional, face-to-face instruction with the best cutting-edge online curriculum. The result is something education experts call a hybrid school. Instead of a traditional brick-and-mortar…

  11. Adolescents' technology and face-to-face time use predict objective sleep outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tavernier, Royette; Heissel, Jennifer A; Sladek, Michael R; Grant, Kathryn E; Adam, Emma K

    2017-08-01

    The present study examined both within- and between-person associations between adolescents' time use (technology-based activities and face-to-face interactions with friends and family) and sleep behaviors. We also assessed whether age moderated associations between adolescents' time use with friends and family and sleep. Adolescents wore an actigraph monitor and completed brief evening surveys daily for 3 consecutive days. Adolescents (N=71; mean age=14.50 years old, SD=1.84; 43.7% female) were recruited from 3 public high schools in the Midwest. We assessed 8 technology-based activities (eg, texting, working on a computer), as well as time spent engaged in face-to-face interactions with friends and family, via questions on adolescents' evening surveys. Actigraph monitors assessed 3 sleep behaviors: sleep latency, sleep hours, and sleep efficiency. Hierarchical linear models indicated that texting and working on the computer were associated with shorter sleep, whereas time spent talking on the phone predicted longer sleep. Time spent with friends predicted shorter sleep latencies, while family time predicted longer sleep latencies. Age moderated the association between time spent with friends and sleep efficiency, as well as between family time and sleep efficiency. Specifically, longer time spent interacting with friends was associated with higher sleep efficiency but only among younger adolescents. Furthermore, longer family time was associated with higher sleep efficiency but only for older adolescents. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of regulating adolescents' technology use and improving opportunities for face-to-face interactions with friends, particularly for younger adolescents. Copyright © 2017 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Increased commuting to school time reduces sleep duration in adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Erico Felden; Moreno, Claudia; Louzada, Fernando Mazzilli

    2014-02-01

    Active travel to school has been referred to as one way of increasing the level of daily physical exercise, but the actual impacts on student's general health are not clear. Recently, a possible association between active travel to school and the duration of sleep was suggested. Thus, the aim was of this study to investigate the associations between the type of transportation and travel time to school, the time in bed and sleepiness in the classroom of high school students. Information on sleeping habits and travel to school of 1126 high school students were analyzed, where 55.1% were girls with an average age of 16.24 (1.39) years old, in Santa Maria Municipality, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Multiple linear regression and adjusted prevalence rates analyses were carried out. The frequency of active travel found was 61.8%. Associations between time in bed, sleepiness in the classroom and the type of transportation (active or passive) were not identified. Nevertheless, the time in bed was inversely associated with the travel time (p = 0.036) and with a phase delay. In the adjusted analysis, active travel was more incident for the students of schools in the suburbs (PR: 1.68; CI: 1.40-2.01) in comparison with the students of schools in the center. Therefore, longer trips were associated with a reduction of sleep duration of morning and night groups. Interventions concerning active travel to school must be carried out cautiously in order not to cause a reduction of the sleeping time.

  13. e-Leadership of School Principals: Increasing School Effectiveness by a School Data Management System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blau, Ina; Presser, Ofer

    2013-01-01

    In recent years, school management systems have become an important tool for effective e-leadership and data-based decision making. School management systems emphasize information flow and e-communication between teachers, students and parents. This study examines e-leadership by secondary-school principals through the Mashov school management…

  14. Increased sexual abstinence among in-school adolescents as a result of school health education in Soroti district, Uganda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shuey, D A; Babishangire, B B; Omiat, S; Bagarukayo, H

    1999-06-01

    A school health education programme in primary schools aimed at AIDS prevention in Soroti district of Uganda emphasized improved access to information, improved peer interaction and improved quality of performance of the existing school health education system. A cross-sectional sample of students, average age 14 years, in their final year of primary school was surveyed before and after 2 years of interventions. The percentage of students who stated they had been sexually active fell from 42.9% (123 of 287) to 11.1% (31 of 280) in the intervention group, while no significant change was recorded in a control group. The changes remained significant when segregated by gender or rural and urban location. Students in the intervention group tended to speak to peers and teachers more often about sexual matters. Increases in reasons given by students for abstaining from sex over the study period occurred in those reasons associated with a rational decision-making model rather than a punishment model. A primary school health education programme which emphasizes social interaction methods can be effective in increasing sexual abstinence among school-going adolescents in Uganda. The programme does not have to be expensive and can be implemented with staff present in most districts in the region.

  15. Alternative face models for 3D face registration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salah, Albert Ali; Alyüz, Neşe; Akarun, Lale

    2007-01-01

    3D has become an important modality for face biometrics. The accuracy of a 3D face recognition system depends on a correct registration that aligns the facial surfaces and makes a comparison possible. The best results obtained so far use a one-to-all registration approach, which means each new facial surface is registered to all faces in the gallery, at a great computational cost. We explore the approach of registering the new facial surface to an average face model (AFM), which automatically establishes correspondence to the pre-registered gallery faces. Going one step further, we propose that using a couple of well-selected AFMs can trade-off computation time with accuracy. Drawing on cognitive justifications, we propose to employ category-specific alternative average face models for registration, which is shown to increase the accuracy of the subsequent recognition. We inspect thin-plate spline (TPS) and iterative closest point (ICP) based registration schemes under realistic assumptions on manual or automatic landmark detection prior to registration. We evaluate several approaches for the coarse initialization of ICP. We propose a new algorithm for constructing an AFM, and show that it works better than a recent approach. Finally, we perform simulations with multiple AFMs that correspond to different clusters in the face shape space and compare these with gender and morphology based groupings. We report our results on the FRGC 3D face database.

  16. Effects of School Counselors' Cognitive Behavioral Consultation on Irrational and Efficacy Beliefs of Elementary School Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warren, Jeffrey M.; Gerler, Edwin R., Jr.

    2013-01-01

    Consultation is an indirect service frequently offered as part of comprehensive school counseling programs. This study explored the efficacy of a specific model of consultation, rational emotive-social behavior consultation (RE-SBC). Elementary school teachers participated in face-to-face and online consultation groups aimed at influencing…

  17. A retrospective look at replacing face-to-face embryology instruction with online lectures in a human anatomy course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beale, Elmus G; Tarwater, Patrick M; Lee, Vaughan H

    2014-01-01

    Embryology is integrated into the Clinically Oriented Anatomy course at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. Before 2008, the same instructor presented embryology in 13 face-to-face lectures distributed by organ systems throughout the course. For the 2008 and 2009 offerings of the course, a hybrid embryology instruction model with four face-to-face classes that supplemented online recorded lectures was used. One instructor delivered the lectures face-to-face in 2007 and by online videos in 2008-2009, while a second instructor provided the supplemental face-to-face classes in 2008-2009. The same embryology learning objectives and selected examination questions were used for each of the three years. This allowed direct comparison of learning outcomes, as measured by examination performance, for students receiving only face-to-face embryology instruction versus the hybrid approach. Comparison of the face-to-face lectures to the hybrid approach showed no difference in overall class performance on embryology questions that were used all three years. Moreover, there was no differential effect of the delivery method on the examination scores for bottom quartile students. Students completed an end-of-course survey to assess their opinions. They rated the two forms of delivery similarly on a six-point Likert scale and reported that face-to-face lectures have the advantage of allowing them to interact with the instructor, whereas online lectures could be paused, replayed, and viewed at any time. These experiences suggest the need for well-designed prospective studies to determine whether online lectures can be used to enhance the efficacy of embryology instruction. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.

  18. Mass Customization in Schools: Strategies Dutch Secondary Schools Pursue to Cope with the Diversity-Efficiency Dilemma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waslander, Sietske

    2007-01-01

    Faced with the diversity-efficiency dilemma, private companies apply "mass customization" strategies to add diversity without adding costs. As schools are urged to become more "customer oriented" they also face a diversity-efficiency dilemma. This article asks how Dutch secondary schools cope with this dilemma and to what…

  19. Increasing Trustworthiness of Face Authentication in Mobile Devices by Modeling Gesture Behavior and Location Using Neural Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blerim Rexha

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Personal mobile devices currently have access to a significant portion of their user’s private sensitive data and are increasingly used for processing mobile payments. Consequently, securing access to these mobile devices is a requirement for securing access to the sensitive data and potentially costly services. Face authentication is one of the promising biometrics-based user authentication mechanisms that has been widely available in this era of mobile computing. With a built-in camera capability on smartphones, tablets, and laptops, face authentication provides an attractive alternative of legacy passwords for its memory-less authentication process, which is so sophisticated that it can unlock the device faster than a fingerprint. Nevertheless, face authentication in the context of smartphones has proven to be vulnerable to attacks. In most current implementations, a sufficiently high-resolution face image displayed on another mobile device will be enough to circumvent security measures and bypass the authentication process. In order to prevent such bypass attacks, gesture recognition together with location is proposed to be additionally modeled. Gestures provide a faster and more convenient method of authentication compared to a complex password. The focus of this paper is to build a secure authentication system with face, location and gesture recognition as components. User gestures and location data are a sequence of time series; therefore, in this paper we propose to use unsupervised learning in the long short-term memory recurrent neural network to actively learn to recognize, group and discriminate user gestures and location. Moreover, a clustering-based technique is also implemented for recognizing gestures and location.

  20. Developing a Leadership Brand: The Heart of Effective School Leadership in Turbulent Times

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Stephen H.; Leon, Ronald J.

    2014-01-01

    Faced with scarce resources and high expectations, school principals must increasingly rely upon the power of persuasion to promote ongoing school improvement. We maintain that the development of a vibrant and tangible leadership brand constructed upon a principal's core values and noble character can motivate stakeholders and stimulate school…

  1. Examination of program exposure across intervention delivery modes: face-to-face versus internet

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mummery W Kerry

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There has been increasing interest in the ability of the internet to produce behaviour change. The focus of this study was to describe program exposure across three intervention groups from a randomised trial (RT comparing traditional face-to-face, internet-mediated (combined internet plus face-to-face, and internet-only program delivery. Methods Baseline and immediately post-intervention survey data, and exposure rates from participants that commenced the RT were included (n = 192. Exposure was defined as either face-to-face attendance, website usage, or a combination of both for the internet-mediated group. Characteristics of participants who were exposed to at least 75% of the program material were explored. Descriptive analysis and logistical regression were used to examine differences between groups for program exposure. Results All groups showed decrease in program exposure over time. Differences were also observed (χ2 = 10.37, p Conclusion These results suggest that the internet groups were as effective as the face-to-face delivery mode in engaging participants in the program material. However, different delivery methods may be more useful to different sub-populations. It is important to explore which target groups that internet-based programs are best suited, in order to increase their impact.

  2. Increasing Children's Voluntary Physical Activity Outside of School Hours Through Targeting Social Cognitive Theory Variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annesi, James J; Walsh, Stephanie M; Greenwood, Brittney L

    2016-10-01

    Volume of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity completed during the elementary school day is insufficient, and associated with health risks. Improvements in theory-based psychosocial factors might facilitate increased out-of-school physical activity. A behaviorally based after-school care protocol, Youth Fit 4 Life, was tested for its association with increased voluntary, out-of-school physical activity and improvements in its theory-based psychosocial predictors in 9- to 12-year-olds. Increases over 12 weeks in out-of-school physical activity, and improvements in self-regulation for physical activity, exercise self-efficacy, and mood, were significantly greater in the Youth Fit 4 Life group (n = 88) when contrasted with a typical care control group (n = 57). Changes in the 3 psychosocial variables significantly mediated the group-physical activity change relationship (R(2) = .31, P theory-based psychosocial changes within a structured after-school care physical activity program was associated with increases in children's overall time being physically active. After replication, large scale application will be warranted. © The Author(s) 2016.

  3. Does Improved Water Access Increase Child School Attendance? A Quasi-Experimental Approach From Rural Ethiopia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masuda, Y.; Cook, J.

    2012-12-01

    This paper analyzes the impact of improved water access on child school attendance using two years of primary panel data from a quasi-experimental study in Oromiya, Ethiopia. A predominant form of child labor in rural poor households in least developed countries is water collection. Girls are often the primary water collectors for households, and because of the time intensive nature of water collection improved water access may allow for time to be reallocated to schooling (Rosen and Vincent 1999; Nankhuni and Findeis 2004). Understanding how improved water access may increase schooling for girls has important development policy implications. Indeed, abundant research on returns to education suggests increased schooling for girls is tied to improved future child and maternal health, economic opportunities, and lower fertility rates (Handa 1996; Schultz 1998; Michaelowa 2000). The literature to date finds that improved water access leads to increased schooling; however, there still exists a clear gap in the literature for understanding this relationship for two reasons. First, only four studies have directly examined the relationship between improved water access and schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, and analyses have been limited due to the use of cross-sectional data and research designs (Nankhuni and Findeis 2004; Koolwal and Van de Walle 2010; Ndiritu and Nyangan 2011; Nauges and Strand 2011). Indeed, only two studies have attempted to control for the endogenous nature of water access. Second, all studies use a binary school enrollment indicator from household surveys, which may suffer from response bias and may be an imperfect measure for actual schooling. Respondents may feel pressured to report that their children are enrolled in school if, like in Ethiopia, there are compulsory education laws. This may result in an overestimation of school enrollment. In addition, most children from rural poor households combine work and school, and a binary indicator does

  4. Optimizing Home-School Collaboration: Strategies for School Psychologists and Latino Parent Involvement for Positive Mental Health Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olvera, Pedro; Olvera, Veronica I.

    2012-01-01

    Public schools across the United States are experiencing an increase in Cultural and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) students, particularly those of Latino descent. Latino children are at a high-risk for mental health problems (i.e., depression, anxiety, risk of suicide, etc.) and face greater risk factors when compared to many of their ethnic…

  5. Maintaining Qubit Coherence in the face of Increased Superconducting Circuit Complexity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hover, David; Weber, Steve; Rosenberg, Danna; Samach, Gabriel; Sears, Adam; Birenbaum, Jeffrey; Woods, Wayne; Yoder, Jonilyn; Racz, Livia; Kerman, Jamie; Oliver, William D.

    Maintaining qubit coherence in the face of increased superconducting circuit complexity is a challenge when designing an extensible quantum computing architecture. We consider this challenge in the context of inductively coupled, long-lived, capacitively-shunted flux qubits. Specifically, we discuss our efforts to mitigate the effects of radiation loss, parasitic chip-modes, cross-coupling, and Purcell decay. Our approach employs numerical modeling of the ideal Hamiltonian and electromagnetic analysis of the circuit, both of which are independently shown to be consistent with experimental results. This research was funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering under Air Force Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0002. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of ODNI, IARPA, or the US Government.

  6. Eyewitness Memory in Face-to-Face and Immersive Avatar-to-Avatar Contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donna A. Taylor

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Technological advances offer possibilities for innovation in the way eyewitness testimony is elicited. Typically, this occurs face-to-face. We investigated whether a virtual environment, where interviewer and eyewitness communicate as avatars, might confer advantages by attenuating the social and situational demands of a face-to-face interview, releasing more cognitive resources for invoking episodic retrieval mode. In conditions of intentional encoding, eyewitnesses were interviewed 48 h later, either face-to-face or in a virtual environment (N = 38. Participants in the virtual environment significantly outperformed those interviewed face-to-face on all episodic performance measures – improved correct reporting reduced errors, and increased accuracy. Participants reported finding it easier to admit not remembering event information to the avatar, and finding the avatar easier to talk to. These novel findings, and our pattern of retrieval results indicates the potential of avatar-to-avatar communication in virtual environments, and provide impetus for further research investigating eyewitness cognition in contemporary retrieval contexts.

  7. Eyewitness Memory in Face-to-Face and Immersive Avatar-to-Avatar Contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Donna A; Dando, Coral J

    2018-01-01

    Technological advances offer possibilities for innovation in the way eyewitness testimony is elicited. Typically, this occurs face-to-face. We investigated whether a virtual environment, where interviewer and eyewitness communicate as avatars, might confer advantages by attenuating the social and situational demands of a face-to-face interview, releasing more cognitive resources for invoking episodic retrieval mode. In conditions of intentional encoding, eyewitnesses were interviewed 48 h later, either face-to-face or in a virtual environment ( N = 38). Participants in the virtual environment significantly outperformed those interviewed face-to-face on all episodic performance measures - improved correct reporting reduced errors, and increased accuracy. Participants reported finding it easier to admit not remembering event information to the avatar, and finding the avatar easier to talk to. These novel findings, and our pattern of retrieval results indicates the potential of avatar-to-avatar communication in virtual environments, and provide impetus for further research investigating eyewitness cognition in contemporary retrieval contexts.

  8. As Food Prices Rise, Setting Menus Is Cause of Heartburn for Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuels, Christina A.

    2008-01-01

    With food and fuel prices increasing sharply, food and nutrition directors in school districts around the country are finding themselves facing some uncomfortable choices. In some districts, school lunch menus are being pared down to fewer selections, instead of the array of healthy options districts would like to offer. In other areas, canned and…

  9. "Entre Familia": Immigrant Parents' Strategies for Involvement in Children's Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poza, Luis; Brooks, Maneka Deanna; Valdés, Guadalupe

    2014-01-01

    Teachers and administrators in schools with large, working-class Latino populations often complain of parents' indifference or lack of involvement in children's schooling because of their low visibility at school events and relatively little face-to-face communication with teachers and school administration. In a series of semi-structured…

  10. Time Spent in Face-to-Face Patient Care and Work Outside the Examination Room

    OpenAIRE

    Gottschalk, Andrew; Flocke, Susan A.

    2005-01-01

    PURPOSE Contrary to physicians’ concerns that face-to-face patient time is decreasing, data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) indicate that between 1988 and 1998, durations of primary care outpatient visits have increased. This study documented how physicians spend time during the workday, including time outside the examination room, and compared observed face-to-face patient care time with that reported in NAMCS.

  11. Faces in places: humans and machines make similar face detection errors.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernard Marius 't Hart

    Full Text Available The human visual system seems to be particularly efficient at detecting faces. This efficiency sometimes comes at the cost of wrongfully seeing faces in arbitrary patterns, including famous examples such as a rock configuration on Mars or a toast's roast patterns. In machine vision, face detection has made considerable progress and has become a standard feature of many digital cameras. The arguably most wide-spread algorithm for such applications ("Viola-Jones" algorithm achieves high detection rates at high computational efficiency. To what extent do the patterns that the algorithm mistakenly classifies as faces also fool humans? We selected three kinds of stimuli from real-life, first-person perspective movies based on the algorithm's output: correct detections ("real faces", false positives ("illusory faces" and correctly rejected locations ("non faces". Observers were shown pairs of these for 20 ms and had to direct their gaze to the location of the face. We found that illusory faces were mistaken for faces more frequently than non faces. In addition, rotation of the real face yielded more errors, while rotation of the illusory face yielded fewer errors. Using colored stimuli increases overall performance, but does not change the pattern of results. When replacing the eye movement by a manual response, however, the preference for illusory faces over non faces disappeared. Taken together, our data show that humans make similar face-detection errors as the Viola-Jones algorithm, when directing their gaze to briefly presented stimuli. In particular, the relative spatial arrangement of oriented filters seems of relevance. This suggests that efficient face detection in humans is likely to be pre-attentive and based on rather simple features as those encoded in the early visual system.

  12. Introducing systems change in the schools: the case of school luncheons and vending machines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suarez-Balcazar, Yolanda; Redmond, Ladonna; Kouba, Joanne; Hellwig, Maureen; Davis, Rochelle; Martinez, Louise I; Jones, Lara

    2007-06-01

    A major public health crisis facing America's society is the increase in child and youth obesity, which has seen a fourfold increase in the last four decades. Major concerns include what children eat for school lunch and what other foods are available in schools. This paper illustrates efforts towards systems change in the luncheon program and food vending machines in the Chicago Public Schools. We discuss the different factors that lead to such changes using the framework of the social ecological model and the soft systems methodology, and we analyze how the resulting innovation was implemented and evaluated. First, we present a theoretical perspective to explain factors that influence children's eating patterns from a systems approach. Second, we discuss the antecedent factors that lead to systems change. Finally, we examine challenges to systems change, such as resistance to change, different stakeholder priorities, lack of resources, institutional bureaucracy, and unrealistic funder expectations.

  13. Bullying in an Increasingly Diverse School Population: A Socio-Ecological Model Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Seok Jeng Jane; Hoot, James L.

    2015-01-01

    Systematic research into bullying has a short history spanning about 40 years. However, investigations into school bullying from a multicultural context are especially limited. As schools in the 21st century become increasingly diverse due to rapid globalization and immigration, there is a need to consider bullying within changing populations. The…

  14. Social anxiety is related to increased dwell time on socially threatening faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazarov, Amit; Abend, Rany; Bar-Haim, Yair

    2016-03-15

    Identification of reliable targets for therapeutic interventions is essential for developing evidence-based therapies. Threat-related attention bias has been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of social anxiety disorder. Extant response-time-based threat bias measures have demonstrated limited reliability and internal consistency. Here, we examined gaze patterns of socially anxious and nonanxious participants in relation to social threatening and neutral stimuli using an eye-tracking task, comprised of multiple threat and neutral stimuli, presented for an extended time-period. We tested the psychometric properties of this task with the hope to provide a solid stepping-stone for future treatment development. Eye gaze was tracked while participants freely viewed 60 different matrices comprised of eight disgusted and eight neutral facial expressions, presented for 6000ms each. Gaze patterns on threat and neutral areas of interest (AOIs) of participants with SAD, high socially anxious students and nonanxious students were compared. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated. Participants did not differ on first-fixation variables. However, overall, socially anxious students and participants with SAD dwelled significantly longer on threat faces compared with nonanxious participants, with no difference between the anxious groups. Groups did not differ in overall dwell time on neutral faces. Internal consistency of total dwell time on threat and neutral AOIs was high and one-week test-retest reliability was acceptable. Only disgusted facial expressions were used. Relative small sample size. Social anxiety is associated with increased dwell time on socially threatening stimuli, presenting a potential target for therapeutic intervention. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Conversations for School Personnel: A New Pathway to School Improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler-Evans, Patty; Webster-Smith, Angela; Albritton, Shelly

    2013-01-01

    School personnel are not having the number or quality of meaningful conservations needed to move schools forward in a focused, cohesive manner. In the face of compelling evidence and best practices, many school leaders and teachers continue to work in isolation. There remains a dearth of professional learning communities and where they exist, many…

  16. Increasing Senior High School Students’ Ability In Speaking English Through Contextual Storytelling Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meyke Machrita Mamahit

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This research aimed (1 to increase the ability of students XII Grade Science 6 Senior High School state 7 Manado in speaking English through contextual storytelling method, (2 to increase the motivation and interest of students XII Grade Science 6 Senior High School state 7 Manado in speaking English through contextual storytelling method. This research is Classroom Action Research. The population was 325 students and the sample was 30 students. The research data was collected using performance test of cycle 1, 2, 3 and questionnaire. The research results indicated that the use of contextual storytelling method in learning English significantly increased the ability, interest and motivation of students XII Grade Science 6 Senior High School state 7 Manado in speaking English. The percentage of students who achieved the minimum score increased from 60 % in the first cycle became 70 % in the second cycle, and it increased 90 % in the third cycle. The students’ interest and motivation in speaking English increased from 70 % in first cycle became 80 % in the second cycle and it became 90 % in the third cycle.

  17. Health Promoting Schools: A Way Forward for Bayelsa State, Nigeria

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Using documentary analysis, face-to-face interaction with school health desk officers and the author's work among schools the paper examines the concept of health promoting school (HPS) and discusses its way forward for Bayelsa State. The paper observes that despite the HPS concept signifying a school that constantly ...

  18. Facing the Knowledge Society: Mexico's Public Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varela-Petito, Gonzalo

    2010-01-01

    Public higher education in Mexico faces major challenges vis-a-vis its position within the modern knowledge society, sparking concern among educational authorities. In the second half of the 20th century Mexican universities ceased to be selective, elitist schools, becoming, instead, massive institutions that reflect social and intellectual…

  19. Work/Life Practices and the Recruitment and Retention of Large School Districts' Foodservice Professionals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Mary Kate

    2010-01-01

    With the forthcoming retirement of school foodservice directors, the increasing pressures faced by employees at home and work, and the financial constraints of school districts, recruiting and retaining skilled and diverse employees will be challenging. Marketing work/life benefits to potential employees and supporting these policies to current…

  20. School Principals, Leadership Coaches, and Student Achievement: Enhancing Self-Efficacy through the Coaching Relationship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelsen, Virginia E.

    2011-01-01

    School principals face an increasing number of professional demands, especially the challenge of improving student achievement. As such, the purpose of this dissertation is to study the effect of leadership coaching on a school principal's responsibilities related to carrying out these demands. Specifically, the researcher examined a subset of…

  1. Face-to-face or face-to-screen? Undergraduates' opinions and test performance in classroom vs. online learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemp, Nenagh; Grieve, Rachel

    2014-01-01

    As electronic communication becomes increasingly common, and as students juggle study, work, and family life, many universities are offering their students more flexible learning opportunities. Classes once delivered face-to-face are often replaced by online activities and discussions. However, there is little research comparing students' experience and learning in these two modalities. The aim of this study was to compare undergraduates' preference for, and academic performance on, class material and assessment presented online vs. in traditional classrooms. Psychology students (N = 67) at an Australian university completed written exercises, a class discussion, and a written test on two academic topics. The activities for one topic were conducted face-to-face, and the other online, with topics counterbalanced across two groups. The results showed that students preferred to complete activities face-to-face rather than online, but there was no significant difference in their test performance in the two modalities. In their written responses, students expressed a strong preference for class discussions to be conducted face-to-face, reporting that they felt more engaged, and received more immediate feedback, than in online discussion. A follow-up study with a separate group (N = 37) confirmed that although students appreciated the convenience of completing written activities online in their own time, they also strongly preferred to discuss course content with peers in the classroom rather than online. It is concluded that online and face-to-face activities can lead to similar levels of academic performance, but that students would rather do written activities online but engage in discussion in person. Course developers could aim to structure classes so that students can benefit from both the flexibility of online learning, and the greater engagement experienced in face-to-face discussion. PMID:25429276

  2. Face-to-face or face-to-screen? Undergraduates' opinions and test performance in classroom vs. online learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemp, Nenagh; Grieve, Rachel

    2014-01-01

    As electronic communication becomes increasingly common, and as students juggle study, work, and family life, many universities are offering their students more flexible learning opportunities. Classes once delivered face-to-face are often replaced by online activities and discussions. However, there is little research comparing students' experience and learning in these two modalities. The aim of this study was to compare undergraduates' preference for, and academic performance on, class material and assessment presented online vs. in traditional classrooms. Psychology students (N = 67) at an Australian university completed written exercises, a class discussion, and a written test on two academic topics. The activities for one topic were conducted face-to-face, and the other online, with topics counterbalanced across two groups. The results showed that students preferred to complete activities face-to-face rather than online, but there was no significant difference in their test performance in the two modalities. In their written responses, students expressed a strong preference for class discussions to be conducted face-to-face, reporting that they felt more engaged, and received more immediate feedback, than in online discussion. A follow-up study with a separate group (N = 37) confirmed that although students appreciated the convenience of completing written activities online in their own time, they also strongly preferred to discuss course content with peers in the classroom rather than online. It is concluded that online and face-to-face activities can lead to similar levels of academic performance, but that students would rather do written activities online but engage in discussion in person. Course developers could aim to structure classes so that students can benefit from both the flexibility of online learning, and the greater engagement experienced in face-to-face discussion.

  3. Free atmospheric CO2 enrichment (FACE) increased respiration and humification in the mineral soil of a poplar plantation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoosbeek, M.R.; Vos, J.M.; Meinders, M.B.J.; Velthorst, E.J.; Scarascia-Mugnozza, G.

    2007-01-01

    Free atmospheric CO2 enrichment (FACE) studies conducted at the whole-tree and ecosystem scale indicate that there is a marked increase in primary production, mainly allocated into below-ground biomass. The enhanced carbon transfer to the root system may result in enhanced rhizodeposition and

  4. Prevalence of face recognition deficits in middle childhood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennetts, Rachel J; Murray, Ebony; Boyce, Tian; Bate, Sarah

    2017-02-01

    Approximately 2-2.5% of the adult population is believed to show severe difficulties with face recognition, in the absence of any neurological injury-a condition known as developmental prosopagnosia (DP). However, to date no research has attempted to estimate the prevalence of face recognition deficits in children, possibly because there are very few child-friendly, well-validated tests of face recognition. In the current study, we examined face and object recognition in a group of primary school children (aged 5-11 years), to establish whether our tests were suitable for children and to provide an estimate of face recognition difficulties in children. In Experiment 1 (n = 184), children completed a pre-existing test of child face memory, the Cambridge Face Memory Test-Kids (CFMT-K), and a bicycle test with the same format. In Experiment 2 (n = 413), children completed three-alternative forced-choice matching tasks with faces and bicycles. All tests showed good psychometric properties. The face and bicycle tests were well matched for difficulty and showed a similar developmental trajectory. Neither the memory nor the matching tests were suitable to detect impairments in the youngest groups of children, but both tests appear suitable to screen for face recognition problems in middle childhood. In the current sample, 1.2-5.2% of children showed difficulties with face recognition; 1.2-4% showed face-specific difficulties-that is, poor face recognition with typical object recognition abilities. This is somewhat higher than previous adult estimates: It is possible that face matching tests overestimate the prevalence of face recognition difficulties in children; alternatively, some children may "outgrow" face recognition difficulties.

  5. The Amagugu Intervention: A conceptual framework for increasing HIV disclosure and parent-led communication about health and HIV prevention among HIV-infected parents with HIV-uninfected primary school-aged children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tamsen Jean Rochat

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Advances in access to HIV prevention and treatment have reduced vertical transmission of HIV, with most children born to HIV-infected parents being HIV-uninfected themselves. A major challenge that HIV-infected parents face is disclosure of their HIV status to their predominantly HIV-uninfected children. Their children enter middle childhood and early adolescence facing many challenges associated with parental illness and hospitalisation, often exacerbated by stigma and a lack of access to health education and support. Increasingly, evidence suggests that primary school-aged children have the developmental capacity to grasp concepts of health and illness, including HIV, and that in the absence of parent-led communication and education about these issues, HIV-exposed children may be at increased risk of psychological and social problems. The Amagugu intervention is a six-session home-based intervention, delivered by lay counsellors, which aims to increase parenting capacity to disclose their HIV status and offer health education to their primary school-aged children. The intervention includes information and activities on disclosure, health care engagement and custody planning. An uncontrolled pre-post evaluation study with 281 families showed the intervention was feasible, acceptable and effective in increasing maternal disclosure. The aim of this manuscript is to describe the conceptual model of the Amagugu intervention, as developed post-evaluation, showing the proposed pathways of risk that Amagugu aims to disrupt through its intervention targets, mechanisms and activities; and to present a summary of results from the large scale evaluation study of Amagugu to demonstrate the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention model. This relatively low-intensity home-based intervention led to: increased HIV disclosure to children, improvements in mental health for mother and child, and improved health care engagement and custody planning for

  6. Difficulties facing physician mothers in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamazaki, Yuka; Kozono, Yuki; Mori, Ryo; Marui, Eiji

    2011-11-01

    Despite recent increases in the number of female physicians graduating in Japan, their premature resignations after childbirth are contributing to the acute shortage of physicians. Previous Japanese studies have explored supportive measures in the workplace, but have rarely focused on the specific problems or concerns of physician-mothers. Therefore, this study explored the challenges facing Japanese physician-mothers in efforts to identify solutions for their retention. Open-ended questionnaires were mailed to 646 alumnae of Juntendo University School of Medicine. We asked subjects to describe their opinions about 'The challenges related to female physicians' resignations'. Comments gathered from alumnae who graduated between 6 and 30 years ago and have children were analyzed qualitatively. Overall, 249 physicians returned the questionnaire (response rate 38.5%), and 73 alumnae with children who graduated in the stated time period provided comments. The challenges facing physician-mothers mainly consisted of factors associated with Japanese society, family responsibilities, and work environment. Japanese society epitomized by traditional gender roles heightened stress related to family responsibilities and promoted gender discrimination at work environment. Additionally, changing Japanese society positively influenced working atmosphere and husband's support. Moreover, the introduction of educational curriculums that alleviated traditional gender role was proposed for pre- and post- medical students. Traditional gender roles encourage discrimination by male physicians or work-family conflicts. The problems facing female physicians involve more than just family responsibilities: diminishing the notion of gender role is key to helping retain them in the workforce. © 2011 Tohoku University Medical Press

  7. The Relationship between Readability Level of Mississippi's Middle Schools' Websites and Seventh Grade Language Arts MCT2 Scores

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickard, Anna Marlene Graves

    2011-01-01

    Today's educators face the unprecedented challenge of increasing achievement for all students. One response has been to increase and improve parent involvement and school-to-home communication through the use of school websites. The quantitative section of this study analyzed the readability grade level of the website as it relates to state test…

  8. Let's Plan the School Garden: A Participatory Project on Sustainability in a Nursery School in Padua

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rocca, Lorena; Donadelli, Giovanni; Ziliotto, Sonia

    2012-01-01

    The increasing complexity of urban regions and the lack of green areas in the neighborhoods have turned the cities less and less child-friendly. In order to locally face these situations, the project "Small steps of Agenda 21," which promoted a participatory planning experience for children focused on the green area of their school, was…

  9. Ethical Leadership Behaviours of School Administrators from Teachers’ Point of View

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mukadder Boydak Özan

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of this study is to determine the degree of ethical leadership behaviours of school administrators according to teachers’ opinions. As a quantitative research, this study was carried out in the academic year of 2010-2011 with 371 teachers who were employed in elementary schools. Ethical Leadership Questionnaire developed by Langlois (2007 has been used in the research. Findings of study reveal that as the year of seniority increases, more teachers think that administrators act within the ethical standards. Teachers’ opinions about school administrators’ ethical leadership behaviours do not differentiate according to the teachers’ gender variable. However; in terms of branch variable, a significant difference is observed in teachers’ opinions about their school administrators’ ethical leadership behaviours when they faced with an ethical problem. Class teachers’ opinions are more positive than branch teachers’ opinions regarding school administrators’ ethical leadership behaviours. Results indicate that teachers think that their school administrators often faced with an ethical dilemma while deciding upon personnel issues. This study concludes that establishing written ethical codes for school administrators may help them to make decisions with integrity, fairness, and in a more ethical manner especially about personnel issues.

  10. School District Regionalization in Rhode Island: Relationship with Spending and Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masterson, Jason R.

    2012-01-01

    In Rhode Island, unless costs for education are controlled, taxpayers could face increased property taxes, increased sales tax on goods and services, and tax increases to existing fees to raise revenue (NEEP, 2010). Reducing the number of school districts was cited as the number two solution by the New England Economic Partnership in 2010 to…

  11. Familiar face + novel face = familiar face? Representational bias in the perception of morphed faces in chimpanzees

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshi-Taka Matsuda

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Highly social animals possess a well-developed ability to distinguish the faces of familiar from novel conspecifics to induce distinct behaviors for maintaining society. However, the behaviors of animals when they encounter ambiguous faces of familiar yet novel conspecifics, e.g., strangers with faces resembling known individuals, have not been well characterised. Using a morphing technique and preferential-looking paradigm, we address this question via the chimpanzee’s facial–recognition abilities. We presented eight subjects with three types of stimuli: (1 familiar faces, (2 novel faces and (3 intermediate morphed faces that were 50% familiar and 50% novel faces of conspecifics. We found that chimpanzees spent more time looking at novel faces and scanned novel faces more extensively than familiar or intermediate faces. Interestingly, chimpanzees looked at intermediate faces in a manner similar to familiar faces with regards to the fixation duration, fixation count, and saccade length for facial scanning, even though the participant was encountering the intermediate faces for the first time. We excluded the possibility that subjects merely detected and avoided traces of morphing in the intermediate faces. These findings suggest a bias for a feeling-of-familiarity that chimpanzees perceive familiarity with an intermediate face by detecting traces of a known individual, as 50% alternation is sufficient to perceive familiarity.

  12. Face-to-face or face-to-screen? Undergraduates' opinions and test performance in classroom vs. online learning

    OpenAIRE

    Kemp, Nenagh; Grieve, Rachel

    2014-01-01

    As electronic communication becomes increasingly common, and as students juggle study, work, and family life, many universities are offering their students more flexible learning opportunities. Classes once delivered face-to-face are often replaced by online activities and discussions. However, there is little research comparing students' experience and learning in these two modalities. The aim of this study was to compare undergraduates' preference for, and academic performance on, class mat...

  13. Does Tasting Local Sweet Potatoes Increase the Likelihood of Selection by High School Students?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bristow, Kelly; Jenkins, Steven; Kelly, Patrick; Mattfeldt-Beman, Mildred

    2017-01-01

    Purpose/Objectives: Schools are offering more fruits and vegetables; yet consumption of fruits and vegetables among adolescents remains low. Many schools are implementing Farm-to-School programs to help generate excitement and increase selection of fruits and vegetables by students. The purpose of this research was to determine if a simple tasting…

  14. Grand Challenges in School Social Work: Collaboration and Constraint in School Social Workers' Sexuality Support for Children with Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolin, Sharon J.; Rueda, Heidi Adams; Linton, Kristen F.

    2018-01-01

    Children with disabilities (CWD) face challenges to the development of their sexuality, in part due to a lack of appropriate, tailored sexual education in schools, role ambiguity regarding provision of sexual health services, and widespread discomfort with the topic. However, CWD have unique sexual health needs, an increased vulnerability to…

  15. Myth 15: High-Ability Students Don't Face Problems and Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moon, Sidney M.

    2009-01-01

    One rationale for failure to address the needs of high-ability students in schools is that high-ability students do not need special services because they do not face any special problems or challenges. A more extreme corollary of this attitude is the notion that high ability is so protective that students with high ability do not face problems or…

  16. Decision Accuracy in Computer-Mediated versus Face-to-Face Decision-Making Teams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedlund; Ilgen; Hollenbeck

    1998-10-01

    Changes in the way organizations are structured and advances in communication technologies are two factors that have altered the conditions under which group decisions are made. Decisions are increasingly made by teams that have a hierarchical structure and whose members have different areas of expertise. In addition, many decisions are no longer made via strictly face-to-face interaction. The present study examines the effects of two modes of communication (face-to-face or computer-mediated) on the accuracy of teams' decisions. The teams are characterized by a hierarchical structure and their members differ in expertise consistent with the framework outlined in the Multilevel Theory of team decision making presented by Hollenbeck, Ilgen, Sego, Hedlund, Major, and Phillips (1995). Sixty-four four-person teams worked for 3 h on a computer simulation interacting either face-to-face (FtF) or over a computer network. The communication mode had mixed effects on team processes in that members of FtF teams were better informed and made recommendations that were more predictive of the correct team decision, but leaders of CM teams were better able to differentiate staff members on the quality of their decisions. Controlling for the negative impact of FtF communication on staff member differentiation increased the beneficial effect of the FtF mode on overall decision making accuracy. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

  17. Anti-racist pedagogy: challenges faced by faculty of color in predominantly white schools of nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassouneh, Dena

    2006-07-01

    Despite the significant effects of systems of oppression on health, nursing education tends not to include anti-racist pedagogy in its curricula, preferring instead to focus more narrowly on culture. This narrow focus allows nurses to depoliticize discussions of race and other social differences, largely ignoring the influence that systems of oppression, imperialism, and historical trauma have had on health in marginalized populations. In contrast, anti-racist pedagogy educates students in ways that make racialized power relations explicit, deconstruct the social construction of race, and analyze interlocking systems of oppression that serve to marginalize and exclude some groups while privileging others. This article describes anti-racist pedagogy from the perspective of a faculty member of color, drawing on personal experience and a review of the anti-racist pedagogical literature. Specifically, this article highlights some of the personal and professional challenges faced by faculty of color when engaged in anti-racist pedagogy in predominantly white schools of nursing.

  18. Developing School Heads as Instructional Leaders in School-Based Assessment: Challenges and Next Steps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lingam, Govinda Ishwar; Lingam, Narsamma

    2016-01-01

    The study explored challenges faced by school leaders in the Pacific nation of Solomon Islands in school-based assessment, and the adequacy of an assessment course to prepare them. A questionnaire including both open and closed-ended questions elicited relevant data from the school leaders. Modelling best practices in school-based assessment was…

  19. Schools Facing the Expiration of Windows XP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavanagh, Sean

    2013-01-01

    Microsoft's plans to end support for Windows XP, believed to be the dominant computer operating system in K-12 education, could pose big technological and financial challenges for districts nationwide--issues that many school systems have yet to confront. The giant software company has made it clear for years that it plans to stop supporting XP…

  20. Using Online Video Lectures to Enrich Traditional Face-to-Face Courses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzanne C. Makarem

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available University educators need to meet changing needs of the digital generation by integrating technology through online content delivery. Despite the many advantages of online education, a large number of university professors are reluctant to make the transition from traditional-face-to-face lectures to online delivery, mainly due to the time, cost, and technical competence requirements to make this transition, in addition to the lack of beliefs in the legitimacy of online education. This article demonstrates the use of online video lectures to adapt traditional university courses to a blended format. The study is implemented for a School of Business Marketing course. We illustrate a cost-effective and timeefficient way for faculty members to record and share online video lectures with limited training and technical support. Using a student sample from two sections of the same marketing course, the study findings support the use of online video lectures as an effective way to free class time for learner-centred activities, without sacrificing student performance outcomes or course satisfaction.

  1. An evaluation of remote communication versus face-to-face in clinical dental education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, N; Lazalde, O Martínez; Stokes, C; Romano, D

    2012-03-23

    Distance learning and internet-based delivery of educational content are becoming very popular as an alternative to real face-to-face delivery. Clinical-based discussions still remain greatly face-to-face despite the advancement of remote communication and internet sharing technology. In this study we have compared three communication modalities between a learner and educator: audio and video using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) alone [AV]; audio and video VoIP with the addition of a three dimensional virtual artefact [AV3D] and physical face-to-face [FTF]. Clinical case discussions based on fictitious patients were held between a 'learner' and an 'expert' using the three communication modalities. The learner presented a clinical scenario to the experts, with the aid of a prop (partially dentate cast, digitised for AV3D), to obtain advice on the management of the clinical case. Each communication modality was tested in timed exercises in a random order among one of three experts (senior clinical restorative staff) and a learner (from a cohort of 15 senior clinical undergraduate students) all from the School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield. All learners and experts used each communication modality in turn with no prior training. Video recording and structured analysis were used to ascertain learner behaviour and levels of interactivity. Evaluation questionnaires were completed by experts and learners immediately after the experiment to ascertain effectiveness of information exchange and barriers/facilitators to communication. The video recordings showed that students were more relaxed with AV and AV3D than FTF (p = 0.01). The evaluation questionnaires showed that students felt they could provide (p = 0.03) and obtain (p = 0.003) more information using the FTF modality, followed by AV and then AV3D. Experts also ranked FTF better than AV and AV3D for providing (p = 0.012) and obtaining (p = 0) information to/from the expert. Physical face-to-face

  2. Boarding school influence on self-reported concern for perceived body and face morphology in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chieh Ting; Garg, Prerna; Giddon, Donald B

    2016-08-01

    To determine the influence of boarding school on self-perceived body and facial morphology, the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and exploratory questions about the orofacial area (OFA) were administered to female boarding (B) and nonboarding (NB) students at two Catholic schools in Taiwan. The mean total BSQ scores of Bs were significantly higher than NBs, with both being significantly higher than the published normative score but lower than probable bulimics with no significant B vs. NB difference in mean total OFA scores. Because the Bs were significantly taller and reported more orthodontic treatment than NBs, the possible confounding by the higher economic status of the Bs was minimized by finding similar significantly higher BSQ scores for the small number of Bs (5%) than the remaining NBs (95%) in the documented lower socio-economic school. In summary, the experience of boarding in religion-dominated schools significantly increases body image concerns of adolescent females. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. School Consolidation and the Politics of School Closure across Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karanxha, Zorka; Agosto, Vonzell; Black, William R.; Effiom, Claudius B.

    2013-01-01

    This case involves dilemmas for educational leaders who may face the process of school consolidation brought on by decreased funding and demands for accountability. We highlight the challenges and opportunities to collaborate within and across diverse communities and schools with varying expressions of cultural, political, ethical, and…

  4. Chefs move to schools. A pilot examination of how chef-created dishes can increase school lunch participation and fruit and vegetable intake.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Just, David R; Wansink, Brian; Hanks, Andrew S

    2014-12-01

    To demonstrate the feasibility of introducing a main dish designed by a professional chef in the National School Lunch Program and to document the impact on child participation, a chef was recruited to design pizza to be served in an upstate New York school district. The pizza was designed to meet both the cost and ingredient requirements of the NSLP. High school students were significantly more likely to select the pizza prepared by the chef. While the chef had no significant impact on main dish consumption given selection, more students took a vegetable and vegetable consumption increased by 16.5%. This pilot study demonstrates the plausibility of using chefs to boost participation in the school lunch program, and potentially increase nutrition through side selection, among high school students. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Processing of emotional faces in social phobia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicole Kristjansen Rosenberg

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Previous research has found that individuals with social phobia differ from controls in their processing of emotional faces. For instance, people with social phobia show increased attention to briefly presented threatening faces. However, when exposure times are increased, the direction of this attentional bias is more unclear. Studies investigating eye movements have found both increased as well as decreased attention to threatening faces in socially anxious participants. The current study investigated eye movements to emotional faces in eight patients with social phobia and 34 controls. Three different tasks with different exposure durations were used, which allowed for an investigation of the time course of attention. At the early time interval, patients showed a complex pattern of both vigilance and avoidance of threatening faces. At the longest time interval, patients avoided the eyes of sad, disgust, and neutral faces more than controls, whereas there were no group differences for angry faces.

  6. Increase in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin-D(3) in humans after solar exposure under natural conditions compared to artificial UVB exposure of hands and face

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Datta, Pameli; Bogh, Morten Karsten Bentzen; Olsen, Peter

    2012-01-01

    to increase 25(OH)D by 1 nmol l(-1). The artificial dose of 6 SEDs of only hands and face significantly increased 25(OH)D and resulted in a dose of 0.52 SEDs required to increase 25(OH)D significantly by 1 nmol l(-1). Artificial UVB was thus at least 8 times more efficient in increasing 25(OH)D than solar UVR......Vitamin D studies are often performed under controlled laboratory conditions and the findings may be difficult to translate to natural conditions. We aimed to determine and compare the doses of natural solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) with doses of artificial UVB radiation of hands and face needed...... UVR doses in standard erythema doses (SEDs) were determined with personal wristwatch UV-dosimeters. 29 volunteers (Group 2) received artificial UVB doses of 6 SEDs (N = 14) and 3 SEDs (N = 15) on hands and face during late-winter/early-spring when outdoor UVB is negligible. 25(OH)D-levels were...

  7. "Not at the Expense of Their Culture": Graduating Native American Youth from High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilcox, Kristen Campbell

    2015-01-01

    What kinds of challenges do educators face in increasing Native American high school graduation rates, and what kinds of adaptations to a traditional high school are understood as necessary to achieve this outcome? This case study explored these questions as part of a larger multiple case study that investigated practices and processes related to…

  8. Distance and Face-to-Face Learning Culture and Values: A Conceptual Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tejeda-Delgado, Carmen; Millan, Brett J.; Slate, John R.

    2011-01-01

    With distance learning increasing in popularity across the country and the world, a review of the extant literature as it relates to distance learning and face-to-face learning is warranted. In particular, this paper examined distance learning, including a historical overview, prevailing themes in past research, and studies relating the importance…

  9. School Connectedness for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: In-School Victimization and Institutional Supports

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz, Elizabeth M.; Kosciw, Joseph G.; Greytak, Emily A.

    2010-01-01

    Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students often face challenges that prevent them from developing a sense of connectedness to school. Many LGBT youth attend schools that are unwelcoming or even overtly hostile. For any student, being victimized at school can negatively impact their sense of school connectedness. This article discusses the…

  10. Responding with Care to Students Facing Trauma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souers, Kristin

    2018-01-01

    Exposure to trauma--which many experts view as include ongoing life stressors like poverty, parents divorcing, death of a family member, or drug abuse in the home--is prevalent among school-aged children. Teachers know that facing trauma impedes students' ability to focus and learn, but it can be challenging to keep responding caringly to a…

  11. Computerizing primary schools in rural kenya

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ogembo, J.G.; Ngugi, B.; Pelowski, Matthew John

    2012-01-01

    questions surrounding this endeavour. Specifically: 1.) what problems do rural schools actually want to solve with computerization; 2.) is computerization the most important priority for rural schools; 3.) are schools ready, in terms of infrastructure, for a computer in the classroom; or 4.) might...... and protective roofing -posing severe challenges to the outstanding conception of computerization. We consider these results and make recommendations for better adapting programs for computer introduction, and also suggest the use of new innovative devices, such as cell phones, which might already have overcome......This paper investigates the outstanding challenges facing primary schools' computerization in rural Kenya. Computerization of schools is often envisaged as a 'magic', or at least a particularly efficient, solution to many of the problems that developing countries face in improving primary school...

  12. Teachers' Knowledge and Readiness towards Implementation of School Based Assessment in Secondary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veloo, Arsaythamby; Krishnasamy, Hariharan N.; Md-Ali, Ruzlan

    2015-01-01

    School-Based Assessment (SBA) was implemented in Malaysian secondary schools in 2012. Since its implementation, teachers have faced several challenges to meet the aims and objectives of the School-Based Assessment. Based on these challenges this study aims to find the level of teachers' knowledge and readiness towards the implementation of…

  13. Marketing Schools for Survival

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padgett, Raven

    2007-01-01

    Principals desiring recognition in the community have added marketing to their job description. Faced with falling enrollments and more school choice for parents, they create strategies to market and brand their schools to potential parents and students, from promoting programs in school newsletters and websites to direct mailings and ads in real…

  14. Setting the Direction: The Role of the Principal in Developing an Effective, Inclusive School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldron, Nancy L.; McLeskey, James; Redd, Lacy

    2011-01-01

    Many schools are currently faced with the difficult task of including increasing numbers of students with disabilities and improving academic outcomes for these and other students who struggle to learn academic content. Recent research has shown that the principal is the key to ensuring that a school meets both of these goals and is both inclusive…

  15. Investigating Face-to-Face Peer Interaction Patterns in a Collaborative Web Discovery Task: The Bene?ts of a Shared Display

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, C-W.; Lee, C-C.; Liu, C-C.

    2013-01-01

    Mobile computers are now increasingly applied to facilitate face-to-face collaborative learning. However, the factors affecting face-to-face peer interactions are complex as they involve rich communication media. In particular, non-verbal interactions are necessary to convey critical communication messages in face-to-face communication. Through…

  16. Schooling increases risk exposure for fish navigating past artificial barriers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bertrand H Lemasson

    Full Text Available Artificial barriers have become ubiquitous features in freshwater ecosystems and they can significantly impact a region's biodiversity. Assessing the risk faced by fish forced to navigate their way around artificial barriers is largely based on assays of individual swimming behavior. However, social interactions can significantly influence fish movement patterns and alter their risk exposure. Using an experimental flume, we assessed the effects of social interactions on the amount of time required for juvenile palmetto bass (Morone chrysops × M. saxatilis to navigate downstream past an artificial barrier. Fish were released either individually or in groups into the flume using flow conditions that approached the limit of their expected swimming stamina. We compared fish swimming behaviors under solitary and schooling conditions and measured risk as the time individuals spent exposed to the barrier. Solitary fish generally turned with the current and moved quickly downstream past the barrier, while fish in groups swam against the current and displayed a 23-fold increase in exposure time. Solitary individuals also showed greater signs of skittish behavior than those released in groups, which was reflected by larger changes in their accelerations and turning profiles. While groups displayed fission-fusion dynamics, inter-individual positions were highly structured and remained steady over time. These spatial patterns align with theoretical positions necessary to reduce swimming exertion through either wake capturing or velocity sheltering, but diverge from any potential gains from channeling effects between adjacent neighbors. We conclude that isolated performance trials and projections based on individual behaviors can lead to erroneous predictions of risk exposure along engineered structures. Our results also suggest that risk perception and behavior may be more important than a fish's swimming stamina in artificially modified systems.

  17. Schooling increases risk exposure for fish navigating past artificial barriers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemasson, Bertrand H; Haefner, James W; Bowen, Mark D

    2014-01-01

    Artificial barriers have become ubiquitous features in freshwater ecosystems and they can significantly impact a region's biodiversity. Assessing the risk faced by fish forced to navigate their way around artificial barriers is largely based on assays of individual swimming behavior. However, social interactions can significantly influence fish movement patterns and alter their risk exposure. Using an experimental flume, we assessed the effects of social interactions on the amount of time required for juvenile palmetto bass (Morone chrysops × M. saxatilis) to navigate downstream past an artificial barrier. Fish were released either individually or in groups into the flume using flow conditions that approached the limit of their expected swimming stamina. We compared fish swimming behaviors under solitary and schooling conditions and measured risk as the time individuals spent exposed to the barrier. Solitary fish generally turned with the current and moved quickly downstream past the barrier, while fish in groups swam against the current and displayed a 23-fold increase in exposure time. Solitary individuals also showed greater signs of skittish behavior than those released in groups, which was reflected by larger changes in their accelerations and turning profiles. While groups displayed fission-fusion dynamics, inter-individual positions were highly structured and remained steady over time. These spatial patterns align with theoretical positions necessary to reduce swimming exertion through either wake capturing or velocity sheltering, but diverge from any potential gains from channeling effects between adjacent neighbors. We conclude that isolated performance trials and projections based on individual behaviors can lead to erroneous predictions of risk exposure along engineered structures. Our results also suggest that risk perception and behavior may be more important than a fish's swimming stamina in artificially modified systems.

  18. [Use of social marketing to increase water consumption among school-age children in Mexico City].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carriedo, Ángela; Bonvecchio, Anabelle; López, Nancy; Morales, Maricruz; Mena, Carmen; Théodore, Florence L; Irizarry, Laura

    2013-01-01

    To increase water consumption in school children in Mexico City through a social marketing intervention. Cluster quasi-experimental design. Intervention of three months in schools, including water provision and designed based on social marketing. Reported changes in attitude, knowledge and behavior were compared pre and post intervention. Children of the intervention group (n=116) increased in 38% (171 ml) water consumption during school time, control group (n=167) decreased its consumption in 21% (140 ml) (pwater consumption among children, strategy that might contribute to mitigate childhood obesity.

  19. Resourcing Change in Small Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Michelle; White, Simone

    2011-01-01

    The theme of this article is the challenge that school leaders face in creating the conditions for learning in small schools. We draw on the concepts of "social capital" and "social entrepreneurship" to identify tensions and possibilities for school leaders in a case study of a small rural school as they seek to find resources…

  20. The Challenges Facing Catholic Education in France Today

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moog, François

    2016-01-01

    The effects of secularisation on society demand a rethinking of the identity and mission of Catholic schools in France. In 2013, the French bishops published a new directory which offers new approaches, described here, based on the three challenges facing Catholic education in France: linking social responsibility and evangelisation, setting up…

  1. Association of a behaviorally based high school health education curriculum with increased exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annesi, James J; Trinity, John; Mareno, Nicole; Walsh, Stephanie M

    2015-06-01

    Increasing exercise in children and adolescents through academic classes is an understudied area. Potential benefits include associated improvements in health, psychosocial, and quality-of-life factors. A sample of 98 students (M(age) = 14.3) from high school health education classes received six, 40-min lessons incorporating cognitive-behavioral methods to increase exercise over 6 weeks. Significant within-group improvements in exercise, mood, and body satisfaction were found, with slightly larger effect sizes identified for the boys. Increase in exercise was significantly associated with reduced mood distress (β = -.17, p goal setting and self-regulation within high school health education classes may foster increased exercise and associated improvements in mood and body satisfaction. For girls, the positive effects may reinforce one another. © The Author(s) 2014.

  2. Parental work absenteeism is associated with increased symptom complaints and school absence in adolescent children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mari Hysing

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous studies have proposed that having parents out of work may influence adolescent illness behaviour and school attendance. However, prior research investigating this question has been limited by retrospective reporting and case control studies. In a large epidemiological study we investigated whether parental work absence was associated with symptom complaints and increased school absenteeism in adolescents. Methods We analysed data from a large epidemiological study of 10,243 Norwegian adolescents aged 16–19. Participants completed survey at school, which included demographic data, parental work absence and current health complaints. An official registry provided school attendance data. Results Parental work absence was significantly related to the number of adolescent symptom complaints as well as school absenteeism. Having a father out of work was associated with an increased likelihood of being in the highest quartile of symptom reporting by an odds-ratio of 2.2 and mother by 1.6 (compared to the lowest quartile. Similarly, parental work absenteeism was associated with an increased likelihood of being in the highest quartile for school absence by an odds-ratio of 1.9 for a father being out of work and 1.5 for a mother out of work. We found that the number of adolescent symptom complaints mediated the relationship between parental work absenteeism and school absenteeism. Conclusion We found that parental work absence was significantly associated with the number of adolescent symptom complaints and school absenteeism. The results suggest that parents may play a critical modelling role in the intergenerational transmission of illness and disability behaviour.

  3. Parental work absenteeism is associated with increased symptom complaints and school absence in adolescent children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hysing, Mari; Petrie, Keith J; Bøe, Tormod; Sivertsen, Børge

    2017-05-12

    Previous studies have proposed that having parents out of work may influence adolescent illness behaviour and school attendance. However, prior research investigating this question has been limited by retrospective reporting and case control studies. In a large epidemiological study we investigated whether parental work absence was associated with symptom complaints and increased school absenteeism in adolescents. We analysed data from a large epidemiological study of 10,243 Norwegian adolescents aged 16-19. Participants completed survey at school, which included demographic data, parental work absence and current health complaints. An official registry provided school attendance data. Parental work absence was significantly related to the number of adolescent symptom complaints as well as school absenteeism. Having a father out of work was associated with an increased likelihood of being in the highest quartile of symptom reporting by an odds-ratio of 2.2 and mother by 1.6 (compared to the lowest quartile). Similarly, parental work absenteeism was associated with an increased likelihood of being in the highest quartile for school absence by an odds-ratio of 1.9 for a father being out of work and 1.5 for a mother out of work. We found that the number of adolescent symptom complaints mediated the relationship between parental work absenteeism and school absenteeism. We found that parental work absence was significantly associated with the number of adolescent symptom complaints and school absenteeism. The results suggest that parents may play a critical modelling role in the intergenerational transmission of illness and disability behaviour.

  4. Emotional Labor and the Work of School Psychologists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, Adam D.; Allen, Joseph A.

    2017-01-01

    As the field of school psychology faces critical shortages, investigations of work factors affecting job satisfaction and burnout are of increasing importance. One such factor is emotional labor, which is defined as the work of managing one's emotions and emotional expressions so as to align to the expectations of the job or profession. In this…

  5. Increasing inequality in childhood obesity in primary schools in a northern English town.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, M; Joseph, V; Mott, L; Maheswaran, R

    2018-05-01

    To undertake an analysis of National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) data to quantify the obesity prevalence gap over time between children in primary schools in the most and least deprived areas of Doncaster. The research design for this study was retrospective quantitative analysis of secondary data. The study undertook secondary analysis of NCMP data on obesity prevalence in children in Reception Year and Year 6 in primary schools in Doncaster for the period 2006-2007 to 2014-2015. Data were combined into three 3-year periods (2006-2007 to 2008-2009; 2009-2010 to 2011-2012; and 2012-2013 to 2014-2015), and schools were grouped by deprivation based on the national Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015. Analysis was undertaken to assess whether there is a difference in obesity prevalence for Reception Year and Year 6 children in schools in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived (prevalence gap), over time. The difference in obesity prevalence between children attending schools in the most and least deprived areas has increased over time. For Reception Year children, the prevalence gap has widened from a difference of 1.01% higher in the most deprived schools in 2006-2007 to 2008-2009 to 3.64% higher in 2012-2013 to 2014-2015. In the same time periods, for Year 6 children, the obesity prevalence gap has also increased over time from 2.82% to 5.08%. There is inequality in relation to obesity in primary school children in Doncaster with those in schools in the most deprived areas carrying the greatest burden. Research is needed to understand why the plateau seen nationally is not reaching the most deprived children. Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Can schools save kids' palates? Cooking from scratch in schools--the greatest food service challenge of our time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Beth

    2012-08-01

    School District Food Service Departments are faced with the enormous task of feeding children in the United States up to two thirds of the meals that they consume during the week at school. The shift in food production since the 1970s produced a trend away from scratch-cooked foods and resulted in more meals created from processed foods. The United States has reached a tipping point where the health of the current generation is compromised by increasing health risks of diet-related disease. Schools have been identified as a critical environment in which there is an opportunity to effect change in what children eat. As a result, in the last 10 years, there has been a resurgence of interest in freshly prepared meals in schools. This article explores one chef’s transition from the private sector to the public sector and the experiences of working with school districts to successfully transform their school food service operations into a scratch cooking model.

  7. Decoding of faces and face components in face-sensitive human visual cortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David F Nichols

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available A great challenge to the field of visual neuroscience is to understand how faces are encoded and represented within the human brain. Here we show evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI for spatially distributed processing of the whole face and its components in face-sensitive human visual cortex. We used multi-class linear pattern classifiers constructed with a leave-one-scan-out verification procedure to discriminate brain activation patterns elicited by whole faces, the internal features alone, and the external head outline alone. Furthermore, our results suggest that whole faces are represented disproportionately in the fusiform cortex (FFA whereas the building blocks of faces are represented disproportionately in occipitotemporal cortex (OFA. Faces and face components may therefore be organized with functional clustering within both the FFA and OFA, but with specialization for face components in the OFA and the whole face in the FFA.

  8. A Conceptual Model for School-Based Management Operation and Quality Assurance in Nigerian Secondary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayeni, Adeolu Joshua; Ibukun, Williams Olusola

    2013-01-01

    This paper examined the School-Based Management Committee's (SBMC) involvement and effectiveness in school governance, curriculum implementation and students' learning outcomes in Nigerian secondary schools; the major challenges facing effective operation of SBMCs were identified as low capacity of key members of the SBMCs; poor attendance of…

  9. Commercialism in Public Schools: A Study of the Perceptions of Superintendents Accepting Corporate Advertising in Virginia

    OpenAIRE

    Browder, Bobby R.

    2007-01-01

    School districts cross the country are facing tight budgets and increased demands on resources and as result have turned to commercial sources for assistance with funding gym floors, lighting for athletic complexes, athletic fields, and sports equipment (Adams 1999; Bell 2002a; Brunkow 2001; Molnar 2002). Businesses are increasingly making inroads into classrooms, particularly, in underfunded schools. In exchange for advertising space and marketing research, businesses provide money, teaching...

  10. Comparative assessment of maize, finger millet and sorghum for household food security in the face of increasing climatic risk

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rurinda, J.; Mapfumo, P.; Wijk, van M.T.; Mtambanengwe, F.; Rufino, M.C.; Chikowo, R.; Giller, K.E.

    2014-01-01

    Questions as to which crop to grow, where, when and with what management, will be increasingly challenging for farmers in the face of a changing climate. The objective of this study was to evaluate emergence, yield and financial benefits of maize, finger millet and sorghum, planted at different

  11. An Interactive Mobile Lecturing Model: Enhancing Student Engagement with Face-to-Face Sessions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyinbode, Olutayo; Ng'ambi, Dick; Bagula, Antoine

    2013-01-01

    Although use of podcasts and vodcasts are increasingly becoming popular in higher education, their use is usually unidirectional and therefore replicates the transmission mode of traditional face-to-face lectures. In this paper, the authors propose a tool, MOBILect, a mobile lecturing tool that enables users to comment on lecture vodcasts using…

  12. The Impact of Perceived Discrimination and Social Support on the School Performance of Multiethnic Sexual Minority Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craig, Shelley L.; Smith, Mark S.

    2014-01-01

    Sexual minority youth are known to face increased risk of poor school performance; however, little research has focused on the educational experiences of multiethnic sexual minority youth (MSMY) in particular. Using venue-based sampling approaches, this study surveyed 255 MSMY at 15 urban high schools. The majority of participants identified as…

  13. Initial training for teachers of physical education to face reality of a school inclusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Julierme Santos da Conceição

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available This study, had as main objective to accomplish one it analyzes about the contribution of the critical-reflexive teaching in the physical education teachers’ initial formation, as the inclusion, in common class, of students with special educational needs. So that if it could approach the intentions foreseen for this investigation, it was used the beginnings of the participant research as methodological source. Being the subjects constituted by five academic of the course of Degree in physical education, in situation of teaching practice, of Santa Maria’s Federal University. Semi-structured interview, participant observation and documental analysis, they were the used instruments and registered in field diary in a period of a school semester of the year of 2005. The data send the conclusions for the trainees’ needs to observe the educational space, based in the critical reflection, for if they involve in the decisions that are part of this context. Facing this movement as an understanding of the world to your turn, contributing to understand the current process of the students’ inclusion with special educational needs. Lifting the problematic principal that refer the formative needs of the subject.

  14. Famous face recognition, face matching, and extraversion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lander, Karen; Poyarekar, Siddhi

    2015-01-01

    It has been previously established that extraverts who are skilled at interpersonal interaction perform significantly better than introverts on a face-specific recognition memory task. In our experiment we further investigate the relationship between extraversion and face recognition, focusing on famous face recognition and face matching. Results indicate that more extraverted individuals perform significantly better on an upright famous face recognition task and show significantly larger face inversion effects. However, our results did not find an effect of extraversion on face matching or inverted famous face recognition.

  15. Preferences for Online and/or Face-to-Face Counseling among University Students in Malaysia

    OpenAIRE

    Kah P. Wong; Gregory Bonn; Cai L. Tam; Chee P. Wong

    2018-01-01

    Increasingly, online counseling is considered to be a cost-effective and highly accessible method of providing basic counseling and mental health services. To examine the potential of online delivery as a way of increasing overall usage of services, this study looked at students’ attitudes toward and likelihood of using both online and/or face-to-face counseling. A survey was conducted with 409 students from six universities in Malaysia participating. Approximately 35% of participants reporte...

  16. The Role of Censorship in School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petress, Ken

    2005-01-01

    School authorities face great complexities and inevitable challenges when deciding to make or not to make censorship decisions in schools. Matters of educational content, age level, acceptability by parents and communities, and appropriateness in the school setting are among the decisions having to be made. When school official decisions result in…

  17. Rural teachers' views: What are gender-based challenges facing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper gives prominence to rural teachers' accounts of gender-based challenges facing Free Primary Education in Lesotho. It draws on feminist interpretations of social constructionism to discuss factors within the Basotho communities that affect gender equality in the schools. The inductive analysis offered makes use ...

  18. Teaching Time Investment: Does Online Really Take More Time than Face-to-Face?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van de Vord, Rebecca; Pogue, Korolyn

    2012-01-01

    Enrollments in online programs are growing, increasing demand for online courses. The perception that teaching online takes more time than teaching face-to-face creates concerns related to faculty workload. To date, the research on teaching time does not provide a clear answer as to the accuracy of this perception. This study was designed to…

  19. Career counselling with secondary school-aged youth: Directions for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the midst of an information age and a global economy, people around the world continue to face significant inequities at school and in the workforce. Career counselling thus finds itself in a paradigm shift that increasingly stresses the influences of culture and sociopolitical context. One area in which the profession can ...

  20. Increasing physical activity in young primary school children-it's child's play: A cluster randomised controlled trial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Engelen, L.; Bundy, A.C.; Naughton, G.; Simpson, J.M.; Bauman, A.; Ragen, J.; Baur, L.; Wyver, S.; Tranter, P.; Niehues, A.; Schiller, W.; Perry, G.; Jessup, G.; van der Ploeg, H.P.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To explore the effects of an innovative school-based intervention for increasing physical activity. Methods: 226 children (5-7. years old) randomly selected from 12 Australian primary schools were recruited to a cluster randomised trial with schools randomly allocated to intervention or

  1. Perceptions of AIDS risk and condom use among out-of-school ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    school adolescents in Moshi rural district of Kilimanjaro region, northern Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving face-to-face interviews with out-of-school adolescents in eleven rural villages in Moshi district, northern Tanzania.

  2. Impact of a website based educational program for increasing vaccination coverage among adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esposito, Susanna; Bianchini, Sonia; Tagliabue, Claudia; Umbrello, Giulia; Madini, Barbara; Di Pietro, Giada; Principi, Nicola

    2018-04-03

    Data regarding the use of technology to improve adolescent knowledge on vaccines are scarce. The main aim of this study was to evaluate whether different web-based educational programmes for adolescents might increase their vaccination coverage. Overall, 917 unvaccinated adolescents (389 males, 42.4%; mean age ± standard deviation, 14.0 ± 2.2 years) were randomized 1:1:1 into the following groups: no intervention (n = 334), website educational program only (n = 281), or website plus face to face lesson (n = 302) groups. The use of the website plus the lesson significantly increased the overall knowledge of various aspects of vaccine-preventable disease and reduced the fear of vaccines (p education of adolescents while considering all of the vaccines recommended for this age group. Our results demonstrate the possibility of increasing vaccination coverage by using a website based educational program with tailored information. However, to be most effective, this program should be supplemented with face-to-face discussions of vaccines at school and at home. Thus, specific education should also include teachers and parents so that they will be prepared to discuss with adolescents what is true and false in the vaccination field.

  3. Face recognition accuracy of forensic examiners, superrecognizers, and face recognition algorithms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, P Jonathon; Yates, Amy N; Hu, Ying; Hahn, Carina A; Noyes, Eilidh; Jackson, Kelsey; Cavazos, Jacqueline G; Jeckeln, Géraldine; Ranjan, Rajeev; Sankaranarayanan, Swami; Chen, Jun-Cheng; Castillo, Carlos D; Chellappa, Rama; White, David; O'Toole, Alice J

    2018-05-29

    Achieving the upper limits of face identification accuracy in forensic applications can minimize errors that have profound social and personal consequences. Although forensic examiners identify faces in these applications, systematic tests of their accuracy are rare. How can we achieve the most accurate face identification: using people and/or machines working alone or in collaboration? In a comprehensive comparison of face identification by humans and computers, we found that forensic facial examiners, facial reviewers, and superrecognizers were more accurate than fingerprint examiners and students on a challenging face identification test. Individual performance on the test varied widely. On the same test, four deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs), developed between 2015 and 2017, identified faces within the range of human accuracy. Accuracy of the algorithms increased steadily over time, with the most recent DCNN scoring above the median of the forensic facial examiners. Using crowd-sourcing methods, we fused the judgments of multiple forensic facial examiners by averaging their rating-based identity judgments. Accuracy was substantially better for fused judgments than for individuals working alone. Fusion also served to stabilize performance, boosting the scores of lower-performing individuals and decreasing variability. Single forensic facial examiners fused with the best algorithm were more accurate than the combination of two examiners. Therefore, collaboration among humans and between humans and machines offers tangible benefits to face identification accuracy in important applications. These results offer an evidence-based roadmap for achieving the most accurate face identification possible. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

  4. The Impact of Bullying on School Performance in Six Selected Schools in South Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Stephanie A.

    2011-01-01

    The nation's K-12 schools are faced with numerous critical challenges, such as elevating academic achievement, and meeting No Child Left Behind state standards (Kowalski et al., 2008). But bullying in schools is becoming one of the most challenging issues that school personnel are encountering. In a Stanford University, study it was revealed that…

  5. Indoor Environmental Contaminants in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    A wide range of environmental contaminants can affect the health and safety of a school environment. This page covers the basics on issues your school may face, including asbestos, chemicals, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, PCBs and radon.

  6. Ways of increasing of efficiency of the use of chemical gazogene cartridges at the mining of facing raw material

    OpenAIRE

    Кальчук, Сергій Володимирович; Лукащук, Олександр Вікторович

    2016-01-01

    The analysis and theoretical generalizations of influencing of the known methods of separation to the stone on the array of breeds is executed. Certain backlogs of increase of the OIR use of chemical gazogene cartridges. Offered ways of determination of optimum parameters of most effective their applications on the deposits of facing stone.

  7. Small Prizes Increased Plain Milk and Vegetable Selection by Elementary School Children without Adversely Affecting Total Milk Purchase

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Megan Emerson

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available (1 Background: Pediatric obesity continues to be a major public health issue. Poor food selection in the school cafeteria is a risk factor. Chocolate or strawberry flavored milk is favored by the majority of elementary school students. Previous health promotion efforts have led to increased selection of plain milk, but may compromise total milk purchased. In our study, we examined the effectiveness of small prizes as incentives to improve healthy food and beverage selection by elementary school students; (2 Methods: In a small Midwestern school district, small prizes were given to elementary school students who selected a “Power Plate” (PP, the healthful combination of a plain milk, a fruit, a vegetable and an entrée with whole grain over two academic school years; (3 Results: PP selection increased from 0.05 per student to 0.19, a 271% increase (p < 0.001. All healthful foods had increased selection with plain milk having the greatest increase, 0.098 per student to 0.255, a 159% increase (p < 0.001; (4 Total milk purchased increased modestly from 0.916 to 0.956 per student (p = 0.000331. Conclusion: Giving small prizes as a reward for healthful food selection substantially improves healthful food selection and the effect is sustainable over two academic years.

  8. Face-to-Face Activities in Blended Learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjærgaard, Annemette

    While blended learning combines online and face-to-face teaching, research on blended learning has primarily focused on the role of technology and the opportunities it creates for engaging students. Less focus has been put on face-to-face activities in blended learning. This paper argues...... that it is not only the online activities in blended learning that provide new opportunities for rethinking pedagogy in higher education, it is also imperative to reconsider the face-to-face activities when part of the learning is provided online. Based on a review of blended learning in business and management...... education, we identify what forms of teaching and learning are suggested to take place face-to-face when other activities are moved online. We draw from the Community of Inquiry framework to analyze how face-to-face activities contribute to a blended learning pedagogy and discuss the implications...

  9. Non-egalitarian allocations among preschool peers in a face-to-face bargaining task.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alicia P Melis

    Full Text Available In face-to-face bargaining tasks human adults almost always agree on an equal split of resources. This is due to mutually recognized fairness and equality norms. Early developmental studies on sharing and equality norms found that egalitarian allocations of resources are not common before children are 5 or 6 years old. However, recent studies have shown that in some face-to face collaborative situations, or when recipients express their desires, children at much younger ages choose equal allocations. We investigated the ability of 3.5 and 5-year-olds to negotiate face-to-face, whether to collaborate to obtain an equal or an unequal distribution of rewards. We hypothesized that the face-to-face interaction and interdependency between partners would facilitate egalitarian outcomes at both ages. In the first experiment we found that 5-year-olds were more egalitarian than 3.5-year-olds, but neither of the age classes shared equally. In the second experiment, in which we increased the magnitude of the inequality, we found that children at both ages mostly agreed on the unequal distribution. These results show that communication and face-to-face interactions are not sufficient to guarantee equal allocations at 3-5 years of age. These results add to previous findings suggesting that in the context of non-collaboratively produced resources it is only after 5 years of age that children use equality norms to allocate resources.

  10. Micropolitics, Leadership and All That...The Need To Increase the Micropolitical Awareness and Skills of School Leaders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Mel

    1999-01-01

    Explores the influence of micropolitical factors on school organization and management, drawing on Ball's idea regarding the inevitability of micropolitics in school settings. Using Edgar Schein's small-group perspective, shows how micropolitical analyses of school cultures and teacher behavior can be used to increase school leaders'…

  11. Face recognition system and method using face pattern words and face pattern bytes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yufeng

    2014-12-23

    The present invention provides a novel system and method for identifying individuals and for face recognition utilizing facial features for face identification. The system and method of the invention comprise creating facial features or face patterns called face pattern words and face pattern bytes for face identification. The invention also provides for pattern recognitions for identification other than face recognition. The invention further provides a means for identifying individuals based on visible and/or thermal images of those individuals by utilizing computer software implemented by instructions on a computer or computer system and a computer readable medium containing instructions on a computer system for face recognition and identification.

  12. Quasi-Experiments in Schools: The Case for Historical Cohort Control Groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Tamara M.

    2014-01-01

    There is increased emphasis on using experimental and quasi-experimental methods to evaluate educational programs; however, educational evaluators and school leaders are often faced with challenges when implementing such designs in educational settings. Use of a historical cohort control group design provides a viable option for conducting…

  13. Supporting School Leaders in Blended Learning with Blended Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acree, Lauren; Gibson, Theresa; Mangum, Nancy; Wolf, Mary Ann; Kellogg, Shaun; Branon, Suzanne

    2017-01-01

    This study provides a mixed-methods case-study design evaluation of the Leadership in Blended Learning (LBL) program. The LBL program uses blended approaches, including face-to-face and online, to prepare school leaders to implement blended learning initiatives in their schools. This evaluation found that the program designers effectively…

  14. Computer-Based Assessment of School Readiness and Early Reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Csapó, Beno; Molnár, Gyöngyvér; Nagy, József

    2014-01-01

    This study explores the potential of using online tests for the assessment of school readiness and for monitoring early reasoning. Four tests of a face-to-face-administered school readiness test battery (speech sound discrimination, relational reasoning, counting and basic numeracy, and deductive reasoning) and a paper-and-pencil inductive…

  15. An Urban School Leader's Approach to School Improvement: Toward Contextually Responsive Leadership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Latish C.; Swaminathan, Raji

    2016-01-01

    This case study examines the leadership practices and actions of an urban high school principal who faced many challenges, but worked diligently to improve student achievement and school climate over a 3-year period. Significant improvements were made by using elements of Distributed Leadership, Professional Learning Communities, and Social…

  16. Increasing Programme Effectiveness through Parent Empowerment: The Getting Ready for School Project in Tajikistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitsel, Christopher Michael; Lapham, Kate

    2014-01-01

    Within the development studies framework, empowerment involves increasing individual agency vis-à-vis the formal and informal opportunity structure. The Open Society Foundation's Early Childhood Programme developed the Getting Ready for School programme specifically for parents of preschool-age children to use at home in the year before school to…

  17. The Role of School Health Services in Addressing the Needs of Students with Chronic Health Conditions: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leroy, Zanie C.; Wallin, Robin; Lee, Sarah

    2017-01-01

    Children and adolescents in the United States spend many hours in school. Students with chronic health conditions (CHCs) may face lower academic achievement, increased disability, fewer job opportunities, and limited community interactions as they enter adulthood. School health services provide safe and effective management of CHCs, often for…

  18. Whole-school mental health promotion in Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phillip T. Slee

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Although there is increasing recognition internationally of the significance of social and emotional health and wellbeing for the healthy development of young people, the levels of support that governments provide for mental health policy and programme initiatives vary widely. In this paper, consideration is given to Australia's approach to mental health promotion from early years to secondary school, including specific reference to the KidsMatter Primary mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative. Although it is now well established that schools provide important settings for the promotion of mental health initiatives, there are significant challenges faced in effectively implementing and maintaining the delivery of evidence-based practice in school settings, including concerns about quality assurance in processes of implementation, translation, dissemination and evaluation.

  19. In Schools that Face the Future: Libraries Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hough, Michael

    2010-01-01

    This address will provide an overview of the societal and economic pressures that are driving change in post industrial economies and their schools, review the characteristics of selected societies such as Australia, USA and Hong Kong, summarise the current trends in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their impacts on learning…

  20. Let's move salad bars to schools: a public-private partnership to increase student fruit and vegetable consumption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Diane M; Seymour, Jennifer; Grummer-Strawn, Laurence; Cooper, Ann; Collins, Beth; DiSogra, Lorelei; Marshall, Andrew; Evans, Nona

    2012-08-01

    Few school-age youth consume the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and increasing fruit and vegetable intake in children and adolescents is an important public health goal to maintain long-term good health and to decrease risk of chronic disease and obesity. School salad bars are an important tool to promote fruit and vegetable consumption among schoolchildren. Studies show that introduction of school salad bars increases the amount and variety of fruits and vegetables consumed by children in schools. However, many schools cannot afford the capital investment in the salad bar equipment. In 2010, the National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance (NFVA), United Fresh Produce Association Foundation, the Food Family Farming Foundation, and Whole Foods Market launched Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S) in support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. The goal of LMSB2S is to place 6000 salad bars in schools over 3 years. As of June, 2012, over 1400 new salad bar units have been delivered to schools across the United States, increasing access to fruits and vegetables for over 700,000 students. Any K through 12 school district participating in the National School Lunch Program is eligible to submit an application at www.saladbars2schools. org/. Requests for salad bar units ($2625 each unit) are fulfilled through grassroots fund raising in the school community and through funds raised by the LMSB2S partners from corporate and foundation sources. LMSB2S is a model for coalition-building across many government, nonprofit, and industry partners to address a major public health challenge.

  1. Increasing the availability and consumption of drinking water in middle schools: a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Anisha I; Bogart, Laura M; Elliott, Marc N; Lamb, Sheila; Uyeda, Kimberly E; Hawes-Dawson, Jennifer; Klein, David J; Schuster, Mark A

    2011-05-01

    Although several studies suggest that drinking water may help prevent obesity, no US studies have examined the effect of school drinking water provision and promotion on student beverage intake. We assessed the acceptability, feasibility, and outcomes of a school-based intervention to improve drinking water consumption among adolescents. The 5-week program, conducted in a Los Angeles middle school in 2008, consisted of providing cold, filtered drinking water in cafeterias; distributing reusable water bottles to students and staff; conducting school promotional activities; and providing education. Self-reported consumption of water, nondiet soda, sports drinks, and 100% fruit juice was assessed by conducting surveys among students (n = 876), preintervention and at 1 week and 2 months postintervention, from the intervention school and the comparison school. Daily water (in gallons) distributed in the cafeteria during the intervention was recorded. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and baseline intake of water at school, the odds of drinking water at school were higher for students at the intervention school than students at the comparison school. Students from the intervention school had higher adjusted odds of drinking water from fountains and from reusable water bottles at school than students from the comparison school. Intervention effects for other beverages were not significant. Provision of filtered, chilled drinking water in school cafeterias coupled with promotion and education is associated with increased consumption of drinking water at school. A randomized controlled trial is necessary to assess the intervention's influence on students' consumption of water and sugar-sweetened beverages, as well as obesity-related outcomes.

  2. How Leadership Content Knowledge in Writing Influeces Leadership Practice in Elementary Schools

    OpenAIRE

    Olsen, Heather Stuart

    2010-01-01

    In an era of increased accountability mandates, school leaders face daunting challenges to improve instruction. Despite the vast research on instructional leadership, little is known about how principals improve teaching and learning in the subject of writing. Leadership content knowledge is the overlap of knowledge of subject matter and instruction in leadership. Using a cross case study format, this study examined the work of three elementary school principals who had different levels of...

  3. Passive and motivated perception of emotional faces: qualitative and quantitative changes in the face processing network.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laurie R Skelly

    Full Text Available Emotionally expressive faces are processed by a distributed network of interacting sub-cortical and cortical brain regions. The components of this network have been identified and described in large part by the stimulus properties to which they are sensitive, but as face processing research matures interest has broadened to also probe dynamic interactions between these regions and top-down influences such as task demand and context. While some research has tested the robustness of affective face processing by restricting available attentional resources, it is not known whether face network processing can be augmented by increased motivation to attend to affective face stimuli. Short videos of people expressing emotions were presented to healthy participants during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Motivation to attend to the videos was manipulated by providing an incentive for improved recall performance. During the motivated condition, there was greater coherence among nodes of the face processing network, more widespread correlation between signal intensity and performance, and selective signal increases in a task-relevant subset of face processing regions, including the posterior superior temporal sulcus and right amygdala. In addition, an unexpected task-related laterality effect was seen in the amygdala. These findings provide strong evidence that motivation augments co-activity among nodes of the face processing network and the impact of neural activity on performance. These within-subject effects highlight the necessity to consider motivation when interpreting neural function in special populations, and to further explore the effect of task demands on face processing in healthy brains.

  4. Producing Irony in Adolescence: A Comparison Between Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aguert Marc

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The literature suggests that irony production expands in the developmental period of adolescence. We aimed to test this hypothesis by investigating two channels: face-to-face and computer-mediated communication (CMC. Corpora were collected by asking seventh and 11th graders to freely discuss some general topics (e.g., music, either face-to-face or on online forums. Results showed that 6.2% of the 11th graders’ productions were ironic utterances, compared with just 2.5% of the seventh graders’ productions, confirming the major development of irony production in adolescence. Results also showed that adolescents produced more ironic utterances in CMC than face-to-face. The analysis suggested that irony use is a strategy for increasing in-group solidarity and compensating for the distance intrinsic to CMC, as it was mostly inclusive and well-marked on forums. The present study also confirmed previous studies showing that irony is compatible with CMC.

  5. A Discourse Analysis of School Counseling Supervisory E-Mail

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luke, Melissa; Gordon, Cynthia

    2011-01-01

    This article is a discourse analysis of weekly computer-mediated communications between 8 school counseling interns and their e-mail supervisor over a 16-week semester. Course-required e-mail supervision was provided as an adjunct to traditional face-to-face individual and group supervision. School counselor supervisees and supervisor enacted 3…

  6. Real-time teleophthalmology versus face-to-face consultation: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Irene J; Dobson, Lucy P; Bartnik, Stephen; Muir, Josephine; Turner, Angus W

    2017-08-01

    Introduction Advances in imaging capabilities and the evolution of real-time teleophthalmology have the potential to provide increased coverage to areas with limited ophthalmology services. However, there is limited research assessing the diagnostic accuracy of face-to-face teleophthalmology consultation. This systematic review aims to determine if real-time teleophthalmology provides comparable accuracy to face-to-face consultation for the diagnosis of common eye health conditions. Methods A search of PubMed, Embase, Medline and Cochrane databases and manual citation review was conducted on 6 February and 7 April 2016. Included studies involved real-time telemedicine in the field of ophthalmology or optometry, and assessed diagnostic accuracy against gold-standard face-to-face consultation. The revised quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS-2) tool assessed risk of bias. Results Twelve studies were included, with participants ranging from four to 89 years old. A broad number of conditions were assessed and include corneal and retinal pathologies, strabismus, oculoplastics and post-operative review. Quality assessment identified a high or unclear risk of bias in patient selection (75%) due to an undisclosed recruitment processes. The index test showed high risk of bias in the included studies, due to the varied interpretation and conduct of real-time teleophthalmology methods. Reference standard risk was overall low (75%), as was the risk due to flow and timing (75%). Conclusion In terms of diagnostic accuracy, real-time teleophthalmology was considered superior to face-to-face consultation in one study and comparable in six studies. Store-and-forward image transmission coupled with real-time videoconferencing is a suitable alternative to overcome poor internet transmission speeds.

  7. Virtual & Real Face to Face Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teneqexhi, Romeo; Kuneshka, Loreta

    2016-01-01

    In traditional "face to face" lessons, during the time the teacher writes on a black or white board, the students are always behind the teacher. Sometimes, this happens even in the recorded lesson in videos. Most of the time during the lesson, the teacher shows to the students his back not his face. We do not think the term "face to…

  8. N.3142 National Assembly law proposition aiming to help the purchasing of households facing the petroleum products prices increase

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    This text presents the problem of the households purchasing facing the increase of the petroleum products. It recalls the government policy, and criticizes the french government gap in favor of the households. In the second part it proposes to replace the ''floating TIPP'' and to reallocate a part of the exceptional incomes of the petroleum companies. (A.L.B.)

  9. Very low resolution face recognition problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Wilman W W; Yuen, Pong C

    2012-01-01

    This paper addresses the very low resolution (VLR) problem in face recognition in which the resolution of the face image to be recognized is lower than 16 × 16. With the increasing demand of surveillance camera-based applications, the VLR problem happens in many face application systems. Existing face recognition algorithms are not able to give satisfactory performance on the VLR face image. While face super-resolution (SR) methods can be employed to enhance the resolution of the images, the existing learning-based face SR methods do not perform well on such a VLR face image. To overcome this problem, this paper proposes a novel approach to learn the relationship between the high-resolution image space and the VLR image space for face SR. Based on this new approach, two constraints, namely, new data and discriminative constraints, are designed for good visuality and face recognition applications under the VLR problem, respectively. Experimental results show that the proposed SR algorithm based on relationship learning outperforms the existing algorithms in public face databases.

  10. School Reforms In Ghana: A Challenge To Teacher Quality And ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The role of the teacher in the modern school system is increasingly important and complex. A teacher needs a high level of professional knowledge and autonomous decision making when faced with professional challenges. Educational reform in Ghana like any other parts of the world calls for the type of teacher who is ...

  11. Comparing Learning Outcomes of Video-Based E-Learning with Face-to-Face Lectures of Agricultural Engineering Courses in Korean Agricultural High Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Sung Youl; Kim, Soo-Wook; Cha, Seung-Bong; Nam, Min-Woo

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the effectiveness of e-learning by comparing the learning outcomes in conventional face-to-face lectures and e-learning methods. Two video-based e-learning contents were developed based on the rapid prototyping model and loaded onto the learning management system (LMS), which was available at http://www.greenehrd.com.…

  12. Stereotype Priming in Face Recognition: Interactions between Semantic and Visual Information in Face Encoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hills, Peter J.; Lewis, Michael B.; Honey, R. C.

    2008-01-01

    The accuracy with which previously unfamiliar faces are recognised is increased by the presentation of a stereotype-congruent occupation label [Klatzky, R. L., Martin, G. L., & Kane, R. A. (1982a). "Semantic interpretation effects on memory for faces." "Memory & Cognition," 10, 195-206; Klatzky, R. L., Martin, G. L., & Kane, R. A. (1982b).…

  13. Reading faces and Facing words

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Robotham, Julia Emma; Lindegaard, Martin Weis; Delfi, Tzvetelina Shentova

    unilateral lesions, we found no patient with a selective deficit in either reading or face processing. Rather, the patients showing a deficit in processing either words or faces were also impaired with the other category. One patient performed within the normal range on all tasks. In addition, all patients......It has long been argued that perceptual processing of faces and words is largely independent, highly specialised and strongly lateralised. Studies of patients with either pure alexia or prosopagnosia have strongly contributed to this view. The aim of our study was to investigate how visual...... perception of faces and words is affected by unilateral posterior stroke. Two patients with lesions in their dominant hemisphere and two with lesions in their non-dominant hemisphere were tested on sensitive tests of face and word perception during the stable phase of recovery. Despite all patients having...

  14. Communication competence, social support, and depression among college students: a model of facebook and face-to-face support network influence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Kevin B; Rosenberg, Jenny; Egbert, Nicole; Ploeger, Nicole A; Bernard, Daniel R; King, Shawn

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the influence of the social networking site Facebook and face-to-face support networks on depression among (N = 361) college students. The authors used the Relational Health Communication Competence Model as a framework for examining the influence of communication competence on social support network satisfaction and depression. Moreover, they examined the influence of interpersonal and social integrative motives as exogenous variables. On the basis of previous work, the authors propose and test a theoretical model using structural equation modeling. The results indicated empirical support for the model, with interpersonal motives predicting increased face-to-face and computer-mediated competence, increased social support satisfaction with face-to-face and Facebook support, and lower depression scores. The implications of the findings for theory, key limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

  15. Cost-free and sustainable incentive increases healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittman, D W; Parker, J S; Getz, B R; Jackson, C M; Le, T-A P; Riggs, S B; Shay, J M

    2012-01-01

    We aimed to develop a cost-free and sustainable program to influence healthier eating decisions during elementary school lunch. Baseline food and beverage choices were assessed for 9 days during lunch service at two racially and economically diverse elementary schools in Spartanburg County, SC, USA. After being informed that the labeled items on the daily lunch menu represented the healthiest choice, students were allowed to ring a call bell in the cafeteria for public recognition when they chose all of the identified healthiest food and beverage items during lunch service. Using menus matched to the baseline phase, food and beverage choices were measured during a 9-day intervention phase. After 30 days, food and beverage choices were reassessed during a 3-day follow-up phase. Healthiest food & beverage choices increased 49% with >60% of students choosing non-flavored milk over flavored milk during the intervention phase. There was no difference in the success of the program between the two schools. The program continued and healthy eating decisions were significantly sustained at a 30-day follow-up assessment. Public recognition through bell ringing appears to be an effective practice to sustain increases in healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch and warrants expansion to larger scale, longitudinal trials.

  16. The 2015 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth in Our Nation's Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosciw, Joseph G.; Greytak, Emily A.; Giga, Noreen M.; Villenas, Christian; Danischewski, David J.

    2016-01-01

    The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) "National School Climate Survey" is our flagship report on the school experiences of LGBTQ youth in schools, including the extent of the challenges that they face at school and the school-based resources that support LGBTQ students' well-being. The survey has consistently indicated…

  17. Face Attention Network: An Effective Face Detector for the Occluded Faces

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Jianfeng; Yuan, Ye; Yu, Gang

    2017-01-01

    The performance of face detection has been largely improved with the development of convolutional neural network. However, the occlusion issue due to mask and sunglasses, is still a challenging problem. The improvement on the recall of these occluded cases usually brings the risk of high false positives. In this paper, we present a novel face detector called Face Attention Network (FAN), which can significantly improve the recall of the face detection problem in the occluded case without comp...

  18. Professional development for teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing: facing the assessment challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cawthon, Stephanie

    2009-01-01

    Teachers of students with low-incidence disabilities, such as students who are deaf or hard of hearing, face unique challenges in putting education policy into practice. The present article presents professional development findings from the Third Annual National Survey of Accommodations and Assessment for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Cawthon, Hersh, Kim, & Online Research Lab, in press). A total of 391 participants described professional development they had experienced related to assessment of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Teachers reported greater exposure to topics in school/district sessions and discussion with their colleagues than in their preparation programs. Teaching at a school for the deaf or teaching students in high school were significant predictors of an increased prevalence of professional development opportunities on assessment-related topics for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  19. Behind Closed Doors: School Nurses and Sexual Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewin, Dorothy; Koren, Ainat; Morgan, Betty; Shipley, Sara; Hardy, Rachel L.

    2014-01-01

    School nurses can play a key role in providing sexual education in schools. However, they often face barriers from the school administration and concerned parents. Additionally, school nurses may have limited formal preparation in managing sexual health issues. This study used a descriptive qualitative method to explore the school nurses'…

  20. The Three C's of School Food Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, Thelma L.

    1986-01-01

    Outlines (1) the changes that have occurred in school food service since the National School Lunch Act of 1946, (2) the choices in foods served and in new markets, and (3) an action plan for the challenges facing school food service professionals. (MLF)

  1. Programs to increase high school completion: a community guide systematic health equity review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hahn, Robert A; Knopf, John A; Wilson, Sandra Jo; Truman, Benedict I; Milstein, Bobby; Johnson, Robert L; Fielding, Jonathan E; Muntaner, Carles J M; Jones, Camara Phyllis; Fullilove, Mindy T; Moss, Regina Davis; Ueffing, Erin; Hunt, Pete C

    2015-05-01

    High school completion (HSC) is an established predictor of long-term morbidity and mortality. U.S. rates of HSC are substantially lower among students from low-income families and most racial/ethnic minority populations than students from high-income families and the non-Hispanic white population. This systematic review assesses the effectiveness of programs to increase HSC and the potential of these programs to improve lifelong health among at-risk students. A search located a meta-analysis (search period 1985-2010/2011) on the effects of programs to increase HSC or General Educational Development (GED) diploma receipt; the meta-analysis was concordant with Community Guide definitions and methodologic standards. Programs were assessed separately for the general student population (152 studies) and students who were parents or pregnant (15 studies). A search for studies published between 2010 and August 2012 located ten more recent studies, which were assessed for consistency with the meta-analysis. Analyses were conducted in 2013. The review focused on the meta-analysis. Program effectiveness was measured as the increased rate of HSC (or GED receipt) by the intervention group compared with controls. All assessed program types were effective in increasing HSC in the general student population: vocational training, alternative schooling, social-emotional skills training, college-oriented programming, mentoring and counseling, supplemental academic services, school and class restructuring, multiservice packages, attendance monitoring and contingencies, community service, and case management. For students who had children or were pregnant, attendance monitoring and multiservice packages were effective. Ten studies published after the search period for the meta-analysis were consistent with its findings. There is strong evidence that a variety of HSC programs can improve high school or GED completion rates. Because many programs are targeted to high-risk students and

  2. How Well Do Computer-Generated Faces Tap Face Expertise?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kate Crookes

    Full Text Available The use of computer-generated (CG stimuli in face processing research is proliferating due to the ease with which faces can be generated, standardised and manipulated. However there has been surprisingly little research into whether CG faces are processed in the same way as photographs of real faces. The present study assessed how well CG faces tap face identity expertise by investigating whether two indicators of face expertise are reduced for CG faces when compared to face photographs. These indicators were accuracy for identification of own-race faces and the other-race effect (ORE-the well-established finding that own-race faces are recognised more accurately than other-race faces. In Experiment 1 Caucasian and Asian participants completed a recognition memory task for own- and other-race real and CG faces. Overall accuracy for own-race faces was dramatically reduced for CG compared to real faces and the ORE was significantly and substantially attenuated for CG faces. Experiment 2 investigated perceptual discrimination for own- and other-race real and CG faces with Caucasian and Asian participants. Here again, accuracy for own-race faces was significantly reduced for CG compared to real faces. However the ORE was not affected by format. Together these results signal that CG faces of the type tested here do not fully tap face expertise. Technological advancement may, in the future, produce CG faces that are equivalent to real photographs. Until then caution is advised when interpreting results obtained using CG faces.

  3. Disclosure Experiences of Urban, Ethnically Diverse LGBT High School Students: Implications for School Personnel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varjas, Kris; Kiperman, Sarah; Meyers, Joel

    2016-01-01

    Disclosure of sexual orientation and/or gender identity is a milestone event for lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) youth and can have both positive and negative mental health consequences. Twenty-nine urban, ethnically diverse LGBT high school students participated in face-to-face, in-depth interviews. Qualitative results revealed two…

  4. British Literature: Increasing Relevancy for High School Seniors through Multicultural Augmentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirkland, Nancy C.

    A practicum aimed to increase the relevancy (to the ethnically diverse students of contemporary classrooms) of the regular high school senior English course in British literature and composition by expanding the curriculum to include selections from countries (other than the United States) influenced by the British Colonial Empire. Using a…

  5. Face to face versus Facebook: does exposure to social networking web sites augment or attenuate physiological arousal among the socially anxious?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauch, Shannon M; Strobel, Cara; Bella, Megan; Odachowski, Zachary; Bloom, Christopher

    2014-03-01

    The present study tested two competing hypotheses about the effect of Facebook exposure on the physiological arousal level of participants who then encountered the stimulus person in a face-to-face situation. Facebook exposure may attenuate later arousal by providing increased comfort and confidence, but it is also possible that Facebook exposure will augment arousal, particularly among the socially anxious. Participants completed a measure of social anxiety and were exposed to a stimulus person via Facebook, face to face, or both. Galvanic skin response was recorded during the exposures to the stimulus person. Results were consistent with the augmentation hypothesis: a prior exposure on Facebook will lead to increased arousal during a face-to-face encounter, particularly for those high in social anxiety.

  6. Student Achievement in Title I Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz, Abby T.

    2017-01-01

    This researcher seeks to answer the following question: How did two elementary Title I schools, identified as "high performing" on the first Smarter Balanced assessment, address elements of Maslow's hierarchy of needs when developing school-wide initiatives to enhance student achievement? Many students in Title I schools face barriers to…

  7. Increases in support structures for healthy eating especially in low decile schools in New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pledger, Megan; McDonald, Janet; Cumming, Jacqueline

    2012-12-01

    To compare two surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009, of the food and nutrition environment in New Zealand primary schools. A sample of primary schools was asked about foods and beverages provided or sold to students or used for fundraising, and nutrition-related policies and procedures. Comparisons were made between school decile groups and between years. Of primary schools selling food or beverages, 34% sold 'everyday' items once or more a day (39% in 2007) and 25% sold 'occasional' items once or more a day (36% in 2007). Two-thirds of schools sold food or beverages for fundraising, generally once a term or less. About half the schools had written policies about food (increased from 2007). There have been some improvements in the food and nutrition environment, with primary schools from lower deciles more likely to be making changes. The reduction in funding for nutrition-related programs in primary schools may hinder the sustainability of the changes seen, especially in low decile schools. © 2012 The Authors. ANZJPH © 2012 Public Health Association of Australia.

  8. Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation's Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greytak, Emily A.; Kosciw, Joseph G.; Diaz, Elizabeth M.

    2009-01-01

    Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth may face particularly hostile school climates, as they often report experiencing harassment, discrimination, and other negative experiences in school. LGBT youth, regardless of their gender identity, often face victimization and stigmatization based on both sexual orientation and gender…

  9. Efforts to increase junior high school students confidencethrough assertive training

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romia Hari Susanti

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available One of important aspects of personality in human life, especially teenagers is confidence. Counseling teachers can increase student confidence through assertive training. Through the training, students are expected to understand that everyone has the right to express their feelings, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes to do a thing without a doubt, but do not hurt other people's feelings, so that confidence can be increased. This study aims to improve students' confidence through assertive training using classroom action research. Subjects in this study were students of SMP Brawijaya Smart School Malang who have low-confidence criteria

  10. Difficulties faced by eighth grade students in the learning of linear equation problems at a high school in Heredia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gilberto Chavarría Arroyo

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The current article presents the results of a study that aimed to analyze the difficulties faced by eighth grade students when learning to solve algebraic problems based on linear equations with one unknown variable. The participants were learners with low average performance in mathematics at a high school in Heredia. The research followed a naturalistic paradigm and the case study method with a qualitative approach. Different techniques like class observations, questionnaires to students, non-structured interviews to teachers and interviews to the learners were applied. The research helped to identify the main causes of difficulty when learning to solve algebraic problems. Some of the causes that were identified are affective aspects, lack of previous knowledge, poor relational understanding, fatigue, diversion, reading deficiencies and misunderstanding of terminology.

  11. A smart technique for attendance system to recognize faces through parallelism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prabhavathi, B.; Tanuja, V.; Madhu Viswanatham, V.; Rajashekhara Babu, M.

    2017-11-01

    Major part of recognising a person is face with the help of image processing techniques we can exploit the physical features of a person. In the old approach method that is used in schools and colleges it is there that the professor calls the student name and then the attendance for the students marked. Here in paper want to deviate from the old approach and go with the new approach by using techniques that are there in image processing. In this paper we presenting spontaneous presence for students in classroom. At first classroom image has been in use and after that image is kept in data record. For the images that are stored in the database we apply system algorithm which includes steps such as, histogram classification, noise removal, face detection and face recognition methods. So by using these steps we detect the faces and then compare it with the database. The attendance gets marked automatically if the system recognizes the faces.

  12. When the face fits: recognition of celebrities from matching and mismatching faces and voices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevenage, Sarah V; Neil, Greg J; Hamlin, Iain

    2014-01-01

    The results of two experiments are presented in which participants engaged in a face-recognition or a voice-recognition task. The stimuli were face-voice pairs in which the face and voice were co-presented and were either "matched" (same person), "related" (two highly associated people), or "mismatched" (two unrelated people). Analysis in both experiments confirmed that accuracy and confidence in face recognition was consistently high regardless of the identity of the accompanying voice. However accuracy of voice recognition was increasingly affected as the relationship between voice and accompanying face declined. Moreover, when considering self-reported confidence in voice recognition, confidence remained high for correct responses despite the proportion of these responses declining across conditions. These results converged with existing evidence indicating the vulnerability of voice recognition as a relatively weak signaller of identity, and results are discussed in the context of a person-recognition framework.

  13. Handedness and phenotypic characteristics of the head and face

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cvetković Milena

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Craniofacial characteristics are used to identify similarities and differences between human populations or within a single population. The aim of this study is to provide data on the differences/similarities between two groups of subjects, left-handed and right-handed children, based on the parameters that determine the phenotypic characteristics of the head and face: head dimensions, face dimensions, hair color, eye color and earlobe shape. The study participants included 1354 students aged 7 to 15 years from regular schools of southeastern Serbia. The instruments used include: the Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire for handedness determination, the cephalometer, and the questionnaire. 135 students (9.97% were identified as left-handed, and the differences in the observed parameters were recorded between left-handed and right-handed girls in relation to the cephalic index, nasal index, head breadth, face breadth, and eye color.

  14. Increasing students' physical activity during school physical education: rationale and protocol for the SELF-FIT cluster randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ha, Amy S; Lonsdale, Chris; Lubans, David R; Ng, Johan Y Y

    2017-07-11

    The Self-determined Exercise and Learning For FITness (SELF-FIT) is a multi-component school-based intervention based on tenets of self-determination theory. SELF-FIT aims to increase students' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during physical education lessons, and enhance their autonomous motivation towards fitness activities. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial, we aim to examine the effects of the intervention on students' MVPA during school physical education. Secondary 2 students (approximately aged 14 years) from 26 classes in 26 different schools will be recruited. After baseline assessments, students will be randomized into either the experimental group or wait-list control group using a matched-pair randomization. Teachers allocated to the experimental group will attend two half-day workshops and deliver the SELF-FIT intervention for 8 weeks. The main intervention components include training teachers to teach in more need supportive ways, and conducting fitness exercises using a fitness dice with interchangeable faces. Other motivational components, such as playing music during classes, are also included. The primary outcome of the trial is students' MVPA during PE lessons. Secondary outcomes include students' leisure-time MVPA, perceived need support from teachers, need satisfaction, autonomous motivation towards physical education, intention to engage in physical activity, psychological well-being, and health-related fitness (cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness). Quantitative data will be analyzed using multilevel modeling approaches. Focus group interviews will also be conducted to assess students' perceptions of the intervention. The SELF-FIT intervention has been designed to improve students' health and well-being by using high-intensity activities in classes delivered by teachers who have been trained to be autonomy needs supportive. If successful, scalable interventions based on SELF-FIT could be applied in physical

  15. Health-promoting schools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kwan, Stella Y L; Petersen, Poul Erik; Pine, Cynthia M

    2005-01-01

    Schools provide an important setting for promoting health, as they reach over 1 billion children worldwide and, through them, the school staff, families and the community as a whole. Health promotion messages can be reinforced throughout the most influential stages of children's lives, enabling...... them to develop lifelong sustainable attitudes and skills. Poor oral health can have a detrimental effect on children's quality of life, their performance at school and their success in later life. This paper examines the global need for promoting oral health through schools. The WHO Global School...... Health Initiative and the potential for setting up oral health programmes in schools using the health-promoting school framework are discussed. The challenges faced in promoting oral health in schools in both developed and developing countries are highlighted. The importance of using a validated...

  16. Challenges of Virtual School Leadership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Jayson W.; LaFrance, Jason; Beck, Dennis

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this case study was to examine challenges faced by virtual school leaders in the United States. Through semistructured interviews, the researchers explored challenges faced by eighteen leaders of fully online or blended online programs. Analysis revealed six main challenges: funding, staff, accountability, time, parents, and…

  17. Issues and challenges facing school libraries in selected primary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Hennie

    and 79% of schools had no library at all (Department of Basic Education (DBE) ... particularly in literacy and mathematics, as compared to national curriculum standards and international ... range of new and ever-changing technologies.

  18. Behavior of households equipped with fuel oil heating facing the petroleum price sudden increase in 2000; Le comportement des menages equipes de chauffage au fioul face a la brutale augmentation du prix du petrole en 2000

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-07-01

    This paper analyses the public attitudes facing the sudden increase of the fuel oil increase during the year 2000. This increase has got a great impact on the households equipped with fuel oil heating. The households adapted their strategy to obtain the best prices, to defer the deliveries or to reduce energy consumption by a improve of the heating performances. (A.L.B.)

  19. Mixing online and face-to-face therapy: how to benefit from blended care in mental healthcare

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wentzel, M.J.; van der Vaart, R.; Bohlmeijer, Ernst Thomas; van Gemert-Pijnen, Julia E.W.C.

    2016-01-01

    Blended care, a combination of online and face-to-face therapy, is increasingly being applied in mental health care to obtain optimal benefit from the advantages these two treatment modalities have. Promising results have been reported, but a variety in descriptions and ways of operationalizing

  20. The Use of Refundable Tax Credits to Increase Low-Income Children's After-School Physical Activity Level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunton, Genevieve; Ebin, Vicki J; Efrat, Merav W; Efrat, Rafael; Lane, Christianne J; Plunkett, Scott

    2015-06-01

    The current study investigates the extent to which a refundable tax credit could be used to increase low-income children's after-school physical activity levels. An experimental study was conducted evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention offering a simulated refundable tax credit to parents of elementary-school-age children (n = 130) for enrollment in after-school physical activity programs. A randomized controlled design was used, with data collected at baseline, immediately following the 4-month intervention (postintervention), and 6 weeks after the end of the intervention (follow-up). Evaluation measures included (1) enrollment rate, time spent, weekly participation frequency, duration of enrollment, and long-term enrollment patterns in after-school physical activity programs and (2) moderate to vigorous physical activity. The simulated tax credits did not significantly influence low-income children's rates of enrollment in after-school physical activity programs, frequency of participation, time spent in after-school physical activity programs, and overall moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity at postintervention or follow-up. The use of refundable tax credits as incentives to increase participation in after-school physical activity programs in low-income families may have limited effectiveness. Lawmakers might consider other methods of fiscal policy to promote physical activity such as direct payment to after-school physical activity program providers for enrolling and serving a low-income child in a qualified program, or improvements to programming and infrastructure.

  1. In Pursuit of Ethical Research: Studying Hybrid Communities Using Online and Face-to-Face Communications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busher, Hugh; James, Nalita

    2015-01-01

    Hybrid communities using online and face-to-face communications to construct their practices are increasingly part of everyday life amongst people who have easy access to the internet. Researching these communities raises a number of challenges for researchers in the pursuit of ethical research. The paper begins by exploring what is understood by…

  2. Serotonergic modulation of face-emotion recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C.M. Del-Ben

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Facial expressions of basic emotions have been widely used to investigate the neural substrates of emotion processing, but little is known about the exact meaning of subjective changes provoked by perceiving facial expressions. Our assumption was that fearful faces would be related to the processing of potential threats, whereas angry faces would be related to the processing of proximal threats. Experimental studies have suggested that serotonin modulates the brain processes underlying defensive responses to environmental threats, facilitating risk assessment behavior elicited by potential threats and inhibiting fight or flight responses to proximal threats. In order to test these predictions about the relationship between fearful and angry faces and defensive behaviors, we carried out a review of the literature about the effects of pharmacological probes that affect 5-HT-mediated neurotransmission on the perception of emotional faces. The hypothesis that angry faces would be processed as a proximal threat and that, as a consequence, their recognition would be impaired by an increase in 5-HT function was not supported by the results reviewed. In contrast, most of the studies that evaluated the behavioral effects of serotonin challenges showed that increased 5-HT neurotransmission facilitates the recognition of fearful faces, whereas its decrease impairs the same performance. These results agree with the hypothesis that fearful faces are processed as potential threats and that 5-HT enhances this brain processing.

  3. Influence of Peer Victimization on School Attendance among Senior ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Nneka Umera-Okeke

    Senior Secondary School Students in Uromi Metropolis. Ojugo ... Key words: Peer victimization, Bullying, School Attendance, Students, Counselling ... challenges children face at school; as a growing number of students perceive their .... record in Secondary Schools in. Uromi Metropolis. Score Range. Grade. Interpretation.

  4. A repeated measures experiment of school playing environment to increase physical activity and enhance self-esteem in UK school children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carly Wood

    Full Text Available School playtime provides daily opportunities for children to be active outdoors, but only makes small contributions to physical activity (PA requirements. Natural environments facilitate unstructured PA and children report a preference for play in nature. Thus, play on the school field might encourage children to be more active during playtime. The primary aim of this study was to examine the impact of the school playing environment on children's PA. Descriptive data and fitness were assessed in 25 children aged 8-9 years from a single primary school. Over two consecutive weeks participants were allocated to either play on the school field or playground during playtime. The order of play in the two areas was randomised and counterbalanced. Moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA was assessed during playtime on the last two days of each week using accelerometers. There was a significant interaction of environment and sex on MVPA during morning play (F(1,22 = 6.27; P0.05; np2 = 0.060 or all of playtime combined (P>0.05; np2 = 0.140. During morning play boys were significantly more active than girls on the playground (t(23 = 1.32; P0.05; n2 = 0.071. For lunch (F(1,22 = 24,11; P<0.001; np2 = 0.523 and all of playtime combined (F(1,22 = 33.67; P<0.001; np2 = 0.616 there was a significant effect of environment. There was also a significant main effect of sex during lunch (F(1,22 = 11.56; P<0.01; np2 = 0.344 and all of playtime combined (F(1,22 = 12.37; P<0.01; np2 = 0.371. MVPA was higher on the field and boys were more active than girls. Play on the field leads to increases in MVPA, particularly in girls. The promising trend for the effect of the natural environment on MVPA indicates that interventions aimed at increasing MVPA should use the natural environment and that schools should encourage greater use of their natural areas to increase PA.

  5. Facing aggression: cues differ for female versus male faces.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shawn N Geniole

    Full Text Available The facial width-to-height ratio (face ratio, is a sexually dimorphic metric associated with actual aggression in men and with observers' judgements of aggression in male faces. Here, we sought to determine if observers' judgements of aggression were associated with the face ratio in female faces. In three studies, participants rated photographs of female and male faces on aggression, femininity, masculinity, attractiveness, and nurturing. In Studies 1 and 2, for female and male faces, judgements of aggression were associated with the face ratio even when other cues in the face related to masculinity were controlled statistically. Nevertheless, correlations between the face ratio and judgements of aggression were smaller for female than for male faces (F(1,36 = 7.43, p = 0.01. In Study 1, there was no significant relationship between judgements of femininity and of aggression in female faces. In Study 2, the association between judgements of masculinity and aggression was weaker in female faces than for male faces in Study 1. The weaker association in female faces may be because aggression and masculinity are stereotypically male traits. Thus, in Study 3, observers rated faces on nurturing (a stereotypically female trait and on femininity. Judgements of nurturing were associated with femininity (positively and masculinity (negatively ratings in both female and male faces. In summary, the perception of aggression differs in female versus male faces. The sex difference was not simply because aggression is a gendered construct; the relationships between masculinity/femininity and nurturing were similar for male and female faces even though nurturing is also a gendered construct. Masculinity and femininity ratings are not associated with aggression ratings nor with the face ratio for female faces. In contrast, all four variables are highly inter-correlated in male faces, likely because these cues in male faces serve as "honest signals".

  6. Facing aggression: cues differ for female versus male faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geniole, Shawn N; Keyes, Amanda E; Mondloch, Catherine J; Carré, Justin M; McCormick, Cheryl M

    2012-01-01

    The facial width-to-height ratio (face ratio), is a sexually dimorphic metric associated with actual aggression in men and with observers' judgements of aggression in male faces. Here, we sought to determine if observers' judgements of aggression were associated with the face ratio in female faces. In three studies, participants rated photographs of female and male faces on aggression, femininity, masculinity, attractiveness, and nurturing. In Studies 1 and 2, for female and male faces, judgements of aggression were associated with the face ratio even when other cues in the face related to masculinity were controlled statistically. Nevertheless, correlations between the face ratio and judgements of aggression were smaller for female than for male faces (F(1,36) = 7.43, p = 0.01). In Study 1, there was no significant relationship between judgements of femininity and of aggression in female faces. In Study 2, the association between judgements of masculinity and aggression was weaker in female faces than for male faces in Study 1. The weaker association in female faces may be because aggression and masculinity are stereotypically male traits. Thus, in Study 3, observers rated faces on nurturing (a stereotypically female trait) and on femininity. Judgements of nurturing were associated with femininity (positively) and masculinity (negatively) ratings in both female and male faces. In summary, the perception of aggression differs in female versus male faces. The sex difference was not simply because aggression is a gendered construct; the relationships between masculinity/femininity and nurturing were similar for male and female faces even though nurturing is also a gendered construct. Masculinity and femininity ratings are not associated with aggression ratings nor with the face ratio for female faces. In contrast, all four variables are highly inter-correlated in male faces, likely because these cues in male faces serve as "honest signals".

  7. Facing Aggression: Cues Differ for Female versus Male Faces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geniole, Shawn N.; Keyes, Amanda E.; Mondloch, Catherine J.; Carré, Justin M.; McCormick, Cheryl M.

    2012-01-01

    The facial width-to-height ratio (face ratio), is a sexually dimorphic metric associated with actual aggression in men and with observers' judgements of aggression in male faces. Here, we sought to determine if observers' judgements of aggression were associated with the face ratio in female faces. In three studies, participants rated photographs of female and male faces on aggression, femininity, masculinity, attractiveness, and nurturing. In Studies 1 and 2, for female and male faces, judgements of aggression were associated with the face ratio even when other cues in the face related to masculinity were controlled statistically. Nevertheless, correlations between the face ratio and judgements of aggression were smaller for female than for male faces (F1,36 = 7.43, p = 0.01). In Study 1, there was no significant relationship between judgements of femininity and of aggression in female faces. In Study 2, the association between judgements of masculinity and aggression was weaker in female faces than for male faces in Study 1. The weaker association in female faces may be because aggression and masculinity are stereotypically male traits. Thus, in Study 3, observers rated faces on nurturing (a stereotypically female trait) and on femininity. Judgements of nurturing were associated with femininity (positively) and masculinity (negatively) ratings in both female and male faces. In summary, the perception of aggression differs in female versus male faces. The sex difference was not simply because aggression is a gendered construct; the relationships between masculinity/femininity and nurturing were similar for male and female faces even though nurturing is also a gendered construct. Masculinity and femininity ratings are not associated with aggression ratings nor with the face ratio for female faces. In contrast, all four variables are highly inter-correlated in male faces, likely because these cues in male faces serve as “honest signals”. PMID:22276184

  8. Tri-P-LETS: Changing the Face of High School Computer Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sherrell, Linda; Malasri, Kriangsiri; Mills, David; Thomas, Allen; Greer, James

    2012-01-01

    From 2004-2007, the University of Memphis carried out the NSF-funded Tri-P-LETS (Three P Learning Environment for Teachers and Students) project to improve local high-school computer science curricula. The project reached a total of 58 classrooms in eleven high schools emphasizing problem solving skills, programming concepts as opposed to syntax,…

  9. Pleasant and unpleasant odour-face combinations influence face and odour perception: An event-related potential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Stephanie; Kokmotou, Katerina; Soto, Vicente; Fallon, Nicholas; Tyson-Carr, John; Thomas, Anna; Giesbrecht, Timo; Field, Matt; Stancak, Andrej

    2017-08-30

    Odours alter evaluations of concurrent visual stimuli. However, neural mechanisms underlying the effects of congruent and incongruent odours on facial expression perception are not clear. Moreover, the influence of emotional faces on odour perception is not established. We investigated the effects of one pleasant and one unpleasant odour paired with happy and disgusted faces, on subjective ratings and ERP responses to faces. Participants rated the pleasantness of happy and disgusted faces that appeared during 3s pleasant or unpleasant odour pulses, or without odour. Odour pleasantness and intensity ratings were recorded in each trial. EEG was recorded continuously using a 128-channel system. Happy and disgusted faces paired with pleasant and unpleasant odour were rated as more or less pleasant, respectively, compared to the same faces presented in the other odour conditions. Odours were rated as more pleasant when paired with happy faces, and unpleasant odour was rated more intense when paired with disgusted faces. Unpleasant odour paired with disgusted faces also decreased inspiration. Odour-face interactions were evident in the N200 and N400 components. Our results reveal bi-directional effects of odours and faces, and suggest that odour-face interactions may be represented in ERP components. Pairings of unpleasant odour and disgusted faces resulted in stronger hedonic ratings, ERP changes, increased odour intensity ratings and respiratory adjustment. This finding likely represents heightened adaptive responses to multimodal unpleasant stimuli, prompting appropriate behaviour in the presence of danger. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. School infrastructure performance indicator system (SIPIS)

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Gibberd, Jeremy T

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the School Infrastructure Performance Indicator System (SIPIS) project which explores how an indicator system could be developed for school infrastructure in South Africa. It outlines the key challenges faced by the system...

  11. Does distance e-learning work? A comparison between distance and face-to-face learners using e-learning materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara de Freitas

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available This study compares continual assessment data, intake numbers, retention numbers and final examination grades of a mixed cohort of face-to-face and distance learners against similar data from previous years where e-learning materials were not used in order to test whether e-learning materials can support the same quality and quantity of teaching and learning for both face-to-face and distance learners. The results for this cohort of learners demonstrate that: (i distance e-learners score as well and sometimes better than face-to-face learners; (ii face-to-face student numbers have increased; (iii overall, student retention and student attendance have been maintained; (iv final examination results have been maintained or in some cases improved; (v lecturer workload was high, but not unmanageable, and it is clear how manageability can be improved.

  12. Computer-Assisted Face Processing Instruction Improves Emotion Recognition, Mentalizing, and Social Skills in Students with ASD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice, Linda Marie; Wall, Carla Anne; Fogel, Adam; Shic, Frederick

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the extent to which a computer-based social skills intervention called "FaceSay"™ was associated with improvements in affect recognition, mentalizing, and social skills of school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). "FaceSay"™ offers students simulated practice with eye gaze, joint attention,…

  13. Managing Digital Identity on Twitter: The Case of School Administrators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Vincent; Jimerson, Jo Beth

    2017-01-01

    What does it mean to be and to act like a school leader online? Although many school leaders might be comfortable navigating issues of identity in face-to-face environments, online environments may present new and unprecedented challenges. These challenges may range from concerns about privacy and surveillance to questions about how best to…

  14. School farming for school feeding: experiences from Nakuru, Kenya

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dick Foeken

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available School feeding is an important development tool and is related to at least three Millennium Development Goals. School farming has been largely overlooked in the urban agriculture literature but with many parents nowadays unable to afford school lunches for their children, it can play a vital role in reducing the costs involved in providing nutritional meals for pupils. This paper examines school farming in an urban setting, namely Nakuru town, Kenya and looks at the current practice, the extent to which school farming contributes to school feeding programs, and the challenges it faces and how these can be overcome. Based on a survey done in almost all primary and secondary schools in Nakuru, it shows that school farming and school feeding are now common practice in the town and that in many cases school farming does indeed contribute to school feeding programs. However, much more is possible and the paper indicates how various constraints in terms of land, water, support and leadership might be overcome.

  15. Queer spawn on school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel Epstein

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This article is about the school experiences of young people with LGBTQ parents. Based on 31 interviews with youth, ages 10-18, the article attempts to summarize what these young people had to say about the challenges they encounter in school, and the strategies they adopt in the face of them.

  16. Team Teaching School Law

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanko, John G.; Rogina, Raymond P.

    2005-01-01

    Graduate students preparing themselves for a career in school administration are typically apprehensive about the legal issues they will face in their first administrative position. After teaching school law for the first time, the author believed that there had to be a more effective way to reach these students rather than the traditional methods…

  17. Leadership for equity and excellence : crossing the divide in Cyprus's diverse schools

    OpenAIRE

    Orthodoxou, Chara

    2010-01-01

    Leaders in Cyprus face a daunting challenge in their quest to create positive change in schools: how to lead across difference. As schools face the challenges of demographic shifts thereby contributing to new patterns of diverse schools this thesis fills a growing need for empirical research of this recent history and its effects on leadership. Leadership for equity and excellence examines how principals pursue equity and excellence in the schools of Cyprus. It is argued that ...

  18. Changing from primary to secondary school highlights opportunities for school environment interventions aiming to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour: a longitudinal cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, Jennifer; Barnett, Lisa M; Strugnell, Claudia; Allender, Steven

    2015-05-08

    There is little empirical evidence of the impact of transition from primary to secondary school on obesity-related risk behaviour. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a change of school system on physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour in pre-early adolescents. Fifteen schools in Victoria, Australia were recruited at random from the bottom two strata of a five level socio-economic scale. In nine schools, students in year 6 primary school transitioned to a different school for year 7 secondary school, while in six schools (combined primary-secondary), students remained in the same school environment from year 6 to year 7. Time 1 (T1) measures were collected from students (N=245) in year 6 (age 11-13). Time 2 (T2) data were collected from 243 (99%) of the original student cohort when in year 7. PA and sedentary behaviour data were collected objectively (via ActiGraph accelerometer) and subjectively (via child self-report recall questionnaire). School environment data were collected via school staff survey. Change of behaviour analyses were conducted longitudinally i) for all students and ii) by change/no change of school. Mixed model regression analysis tested for behavioural interaction effects of changing/not changing school. Sixty-three percent (N=152) changed schools from T1 to T2. Across all students we observed declines in average daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (-4 min) and light PA (-23 min), and increases in average daily sedentary behaviour (16 min), weekday leisure screen time (17 min) and weekday homework screen time (25 min), all Penvironment, students who changed school reported a greater reduction in PA intensity at recess and lunch, less likelihood to cycle to/from school, greater increase in weekday (41 mins) and weekend (45 mins) leisure screen time (Pbehaviour, and has further compounding effects on behaviour type by changing school environments.

  19. Library Automation Report, 1996. Multimedia Computers in U.S. Public Schools, 1995-96.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quality Education Data, Inc., Denver, CO.

    District library media directors face dual demands including competition for limited educational dollars and the need to meet increasingly sophisticated student research requests. To solve these dilemmas, many districts are automating their schools' library media centers. Quality Education Data (QED) is an education research firm providing…

  20. Charter Schools and Student Compositions of Traditional Public Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nevbahar Ertas

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available One of the most contentious urban education policy issues in the United States today is the expansion of charter schools and its repercussions. Does the expansion of charter schools affect the racial and socioeconomic composition of traditional public schools in the United States? This study provides empirical evidence on this question by relying on a panel design that uses school-level data from two states that have experimented with charter schools for more than 15 years: Ohio and Texas. Using county-level, spatial, and enrollment-based measures of charter exposure, the changes from pre- to post-charter-legislation stages in the student compositions of public schools that do and do not face competition from charters are examined. The results suggest that charter school presence contributes to aggregate-level changes in the share of non-Hispanic White and free-lunch-eligible students in traditional public schools in both states in different ways.

  1. School-Based Budgeting: Increasing Influence and Information at the School Level in Rochester, New York.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moser, Michelle

    1998-01-01

    Using survey and interview responses, examines school members' perceptions of school autonomy over budget decisions, availability of budget information at the school level, and members' willingness to engage in shared decision making in Rochester, New York. Results suggest there are implementation barriers in Rochester pilot schools. Participants…

  2. The 2015 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth in Our Nation's Schools. Executive Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosciw, Joseph G.; Greytak, Emily A.; Giga, Noreen M.; Villenas, Christian; Danischewski, David J.

    2016-01-01

    The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) "National School Climate Survey" is our flagship report on the school experiences of LGBTQ youth in schools, including the extent of the challenges that they face at school and the school-based resources that support LGBTQ students' well-being. The survey has consistently indicated…

  3. Walking through the School: The Erotics of Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilbert, Jen

    2016-01-01

    University researchers face a significant obstacle when studying schools: their lives as researchers began in schools. How can researchers enter the contemporary high school and see the movement of bodies through those halls as something other than a confirmation or rejection of their own schooling experiences? What special intellectual and…

  4. After-school programs for low-income children: promise and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halpern, R

    1999-01-01

    Children's out-of-school time, long a low-level source of public concern, has recently emerged as a major social issue. This, in turn, has heightened interest in the heterogeneous field of after-school programs. This article provides a profile of after-school programs for low-income children, focusing on supply and demand, program emphases, and program sponsors and support organizations. It also discusses the major challenges facing the field in the areas of facilities, staffing, and financing. Details and examples are drawn from the ongoing evaluation of a specific after-school program initiative called MOST (Making the Most of Out-of-School Time), which seeks to strengthen after-school programs in Boston, Chicago, and Seattle. Looking ahead, the article highlights the pros and cons of options for increasing coverage to reach more low-income children, strengthening programs, expanding funding, and articulating an appropriate role for after-school programs to fill in the lives of low-income children.

  5. Rx for a Healthy School Nutrition Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boettger, Julie

    2009-01-01

    School nutrition directors face challenges on many fronts, from changing nutrition standards to addressing community interest in sustainability and local food sourcing. Programs are constantly changing to meet these new demands. How does a school business administrator know which changes will affect his/her school nutrition program positively? The…

  6. Efficacy of face-to-face versus self-guided treatments for disordered gambling: A meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goslar, Martina; Leibetseder, Max; Muench, Hannah M; Hofmann, Stefan G; Laireiter, Anton-Rupert

    2017-06-01

    Background and aims In the light of growing traditional and novel forms of gambling, the treatment of disordered gambling is gaining increasing importance and practical relevance. Most studies have examined face-to-face treatments. Although trials implementing self-guided treatments have recently been conducted, these options have not yet been systematically examined. The primary objective of this meta-analysis, therefore, was to analyze the efficacy of all types of psychological face-to-face and self-guided treatments. Methods A multilevel literature search yielded 27 randomized controlled studies totaling 3,879 participants to provide a comprehensive comparative evaluation of the short- and long-term efficacies of face-to-face and self-guided treatments for disordered gambling. Results As expected, the results revealed significantly higher effect sizes for face-to-face treatments (16 studies with Hedges's g ranging from 0.67 to 1.15) as compared with self-guided treatments (11 studies with Hedges's g ranging from 0.12 to 0.30) regarding the reduction of problematic gambling behavior. The intensity of treatment moderated the therapy effect, particularly for self-guided treatments. Discussion and Conclusions The results of this meta-analysis favor face-to-face treatments over self-guided treatments for the reduction of disordered gambling. Although the findings broaden the scope of knowledge about psychological treatment modalities for disordered gambling, further research is needed to identify the reasons for these differences with the goal to optimize the treatment for this disabling condition.

  7. Cultivating Community Schools: Austin's Grassroots Effort

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubin, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    In 2007, Walter P. Webb Middle School faced a crisis. One evening in January, the superintendent at the time held a meeting at the school in Austin, Texas, to let students, parents, teachers, and community members know that at the end of the academic year, their school would close. Thanks to a new state law focused on accountability, the…

  8. Headmaster Technology Leadership in Malaysia Elementary Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ai Yieng Wong

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Headmaster technology leadership increasingly important in education today. This leadership, providing various positive effects to the headmaster, teachers, students and schools. Therefore, headmaster need to master this leadership to take up the leadership role of technology in schools. Based on the Headmaster Technology Leadership Model by Chang (2003, a study based on interviews conducted on 6 headmasters serving in Johor, Malaysia. This study aims to review i the role of the headmaster in Johor as a technology leader in school ii the challenges faced by headmaster to serve as a technology leader. Analysis of the findings from interviews found the headmaster in Johor play a role as a technology leader in the school. However, the findings have found the effort in ICT development by the headmaster in schools is different based on the needs of the school. Therefore, there is no single fixed pattern headmaster role as a technology leader. In addition, the role of the headmaster as a technology leader is not comprehensive of the five dimensions as suggested by Chang (2003. Headmaster of Johor advised to make improvements to the school led to the transformation of technology-based education.

  9. Age-Related Differences in Brain Electrical Activity during Extended Continuous Face Recognition in Younger Children, Older Children and Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Strien, Jan W.; Glimmerveen, Johanna C.; Franken, Ingmar H. A.; Martens, Vanessa E. G.; de Bruin, Eveline A.

    2011-01-01

    To examine the development of recognition memory in primary-school children, 36 healthy younger children (8-9 years old) and 36 healthy older children (11-12 years old) participated in an ERP study with an extended continuous face recognition task (Study 1). Each face of a series of 30 faces was shown randomly six times interspersed with…

  10. Democratic Leadership for Community Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruffin, Verna D.; Brooks, Jeffrey S.

    2010-01-01

    Because educators continue to face challenges when seeking to educate all children, there is a growing recognition that schools must work with communities to maximize their collective educational potential (Murphy, Beck, Crawford, Hodges, & McGauphy, 2001). Although community schools are still in the emergent stages of development, their emphasis…

  11. Using Interactive Animations to Enhance Teaching, Learning, and Retention of Respiration Pathway Concepts in Face-to-Face and Online High School, Undergraduate, and Continuing Education Learning Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sederick C. Rice

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available One major tool set teachers/instructors can use is online interactive animations, which presents content in a way that helps pique students' interest and differentiates instructional content.  The Virtual Cell Animation Collections (VCAC, developed from the Molecular and Cellular Biology Learning Center, has developed a series of online interactive animations that provide teacher/instructors and students with immersive learning tools for studying and understanding respiration processes.  These virtual tools work as powerful instructional devices to help explain and reinforce concepts of metabolic pathways that would normally be taught traditionally using static textbook pages or by neumonic flashcards. High school, undergraduate, and continuing education students of today learn and retain knowledge differently than their predecessors.  Now teachers face new challenges and must engage and assess students, within a small window during classroom instruction, but also have the skills to provide useful content in distance learning environments.  Educators have to keep up with changing trends in education as a result of technological advances, higher student/teacher ratios, and the influence of social media on education. It is critical for teachers/instructors to be able to present content that not only keeps students interested but also helps bridge learning gaps. VCAC provides high school, undergraduate, and continuing education biology or life science teachers/instructors with classroom strategies and tools for introducing respiration content through free open source online resources. VCAC content supports the development of more inquiry-based classroom and distance-learning environments that can be facilitated by teachers/instructors, which helps improve retention of important respiration subject content and problem-based learning skills for students.

  12. Increasing Medicaid Revenue Generation for Services by School Psychologists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hybza, Megan M.; Stokes, Trevor F.; Hayman, Marilee; Schatzberg, Tracy

    2013-01-01

    We examined a performance improvement package with components of feedback, goal setting, and prompting to generate additional revenue by improving the consistency of Medicaid billing submitted by 74 school psychologists serving 102 schools. A multiple baseline design across three service areas of a county school system demonstrated the…

  13. Data Speak: Influencing School Health Policy through Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryberg, Jacalyn Wickline; Keller, Teresa; Hine, Beverly; Christeson, Elisabeth

    2003-01-01

    School nurses occupy a unique position in relation to school health policy. In addition to facing the demands of promoting and maintaining the health of students, they collect the information that is used to document the implementation of school health policy. Effective school health policy is guided by reliable, credible data regarding what…

  14. NC Families and Communities Equals Success (FACES): Six Months Later.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Maria E.; Campbell, Kimm; Honess, Karen; Gallagher, Natalie Gibbs; Thurber, Lori; Smitley, Andy

    This paper reports on clinical and school outcomes after 6 months of implementing the North Carolina FACES (Families and Communities Equals Success) mental health program. Of the 210 children and youth participating in the program evaluation, 42 percent were African American, more than three quarters were male, 55 percent of families had annual…

  15. Leading increasingly linguistically diverse London schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dina Mehmedbegović

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Engaging with bilingual parents, students and teachers with little awareness of the benefits of bilingualism has initiated a search for factors resulting in the low value attached to certain types of bilingualism. Working on the hypothesis that prevalent practice is influenced more by attitudes to bilingualism rather than relevant research and pedagogical theory, this research focuses on attitudes. This small-scale qualitative study conducted with a group of London headteachers provides an insight into the attitudes to bilingualism and how they impact on policy and practice in schools with significant proportions of multilingual learners. It also raises the question if schools which claim to support multilingual students in realising their full potential can achieve that without including home languages as an integral part of learning.

  16. Challenges facing eTextbook provision to South African schools

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Dlodlo, N

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available international companies are very expensive for the South African environment, and this would result in uneven access to such resources. Therefore South Africa has to come up with its own low-cost appropriate technologies to enable eBook provision to the schools...

  17. Increasing STEM Competence in Urban, High Poverty Elementary School Populations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sueanne McKinney

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Enhancing STEM competence (e.g., interests, knowledge, skills, and dispositions among urban, high poverty, elementary school populations in the United States (U.S. is and remains a growing national concern, especially since Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM competence is and will continue to be a necessary requisite for gainful employment in the future, according to workforce development experts. In an attempt to address this gap, many urban elementary schools have begun to offer STEM-related programs to increase STEM learning at an early age. STEM competence (interest, knowledge, skills, and dispositions, however, remains low. This paper results in a matrix used to analyze children's fictional literary selections and a model that argues that elementary teachers, as the first point of contact with young students, can affect STEM competence. By adopting a more culturally responsive pedagogy that attends to the 21st Century Learning Skills and the Next Generation Science Standards, teachers can choose literature that serves to excite and reinforce STEM learning.

  18. Routes and Reasons Out, Paths Back: The Influence of Push and Pull Reasons for Leaving School on Students' School Reengagement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boylan, Rebecca L.; Renzulli, Linda

    2017-01-01

    Dropout is a major issue facing our country's schools; however, many students who drop out of school later go on to finish their degree either by returning to high school or by earning a General Education Development (GED) credential. Despite this, there has been relatively little research on these students who "stopout" of high school.…

  19. School Boundaries: Finding Solutions While Gaining Community Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazarus, William

    2010-01-01

    Some of the most complicated issues facing school districts across the country revolve around resource allocation and student assignment planning. Determining school attendance boundaries, selecting sites for new schools, closing existing ones, balancing seat utilization while minimizing travel costs, and achieving socioeconomic diversity are all…

  20. Caucasian infants scan own- and other-race faces differently.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Wheeler

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Young infants are known to prefer own-race faces to other race faces and recognize own-race faces better than other-race faces. However, it is entirely unclear as to whether infants also attend to different parts of own- and other-race faces differently, which may provide an important clue as to how and why the own-race face recognition advantage emerges so early. The present study used eye tracking methodology to investigate whether 6- to 10-month-old Caucasian infants (N = 37 have differential scanning patterns for dynamically displayed own- and other-race faces. We found that even though infants spent a similar amount of time looking at own- and other-race faces, with increased age, infants increasingly looked longer at the eyes of own-race faces and less at the mouths of own-race faces. These findings suggest experience-based tuning of the infant's face processing system to optimally process own-race faces that are different in physiognomy from other-race faces. In addition, the present results, taken together with recent own- and other-race eye tracking findings with infants and adults, provide strong support for an enculturation hypothesis that East Asians and Westerners may be socialized to scan faces differently due to each culture's conventions regarding mutual gaze during interpersonal communication.

  1. Immigrant families' perceptions on walking to school and school breakfast: a focus group study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Busby Katie

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Immigrant children face an increased risk of being overweight. Little is known about how immigrant families perceive school programs that may help prevent obesity, such as walking to school and school breakfast. Methods Six focus groups (n = 53 were conducted with immigrant parents of school-aged children, two each in three languages: Vietnamese, Spanish, and Somali. A facilitator and translator conducted the focus groups using a script and question guide. Written notes and audio transcripts were recorded in each group. Transcripts were coded for themes by two researchers and findings classified according to an ecological model. Results Participants in each ethnic group held positive beliefs about the benefits of walking and eating breakfast. Barriers to walking to school included fear of children's safety due to stranger abductions, distrust of neighbors, and traffic, and feasibility barriers due to distance to schools, parent work constraints, and large families with multiple children. Barriers to school breakfast participation included concerns children would not eat due to lack of appealing/appropriate foods and missing breakfast due to late bus arrival or lack of reminders. Although some parents acknowledged concerns about child and adult obesity overall, obesity concerns did not seem personally relevant. Conclusion Immigrant parents supported the ideals of walking to school and eating breakfast, but identified barriers to participation in school programs across domains of the ecological model, including community, institution, and built environment factors. Schools and communities serving immigrant families may need to address these barriers in order to engage parents and children in walking and breakfast programs.

  2. Combined tool approach is 100% successful for emergency football face mask removal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Copeland, Aaron J; Decoster, Laura C; Swartz, Erik E; Gattie, Eric R; Gale, Stephanie D

    2007-11-01

    To compare effectiveness of two techniques for removing football face masks: cutting loop straps [cutting tool: FMXtractor (FMX)] or removing screws with a cordless screwdriver and using the FMXtractor as needed for failed removals [combined tool (CT)]. Null hypotheses: no differences in face mask removal success, removal time or difficulty between techniques or helmet characteristics. Retrospective, cross-sectional. NOCSAE-certified helmet reconditioning plants. 600 used high school helmets. Face mask removal attempted with two techniques. Success, removal time, rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Both techniques were effective [CT 100% (300/300); FMX 99.4% (298/300)]. Use of the backup FMXtractor in CT trials was required in 19% of trials. There was significantly (Pfootball player's helmet.

  3. Students Facing Poverty: The New Majority

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suitts, Steve

    2016-01-01

    Low-income students are now a majority in U.S. public schools. Steve Suitts, formerly of the Southern Education Foundation, reviews statistics showing that the percentage of students in K-12 schools coming from low-income families has increased to 52 percent. Meanwhile, state funding for K-12 schools has increased much more modestly, so that…

  4. Swimming Upstream: Faculty and Staff Members From Urban Middle Schools in Low-Income Communities Describe Their Experience Implementing Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiatives

    OpenAIRE

    Bryn Austin, S; Bauer, Katherine W; Patel, Aarti; Prokop, Lisa A

    2006-01-01

    Introduction Addressing childhood overweight has become a top priority in the United States. Modification of school policies and practices has been used in an attempt to address the overweight epidemic among children and adolescents. Culturally diverse urban schools in low-income communities attempting to improve nutrition and increase physical activity may face unique challenges in the school environment. A better understanding is needed about school environments and how they may affect the...

  5. Web-Face-to-Face Mixed-Mode Design in a Longitudinal Survey: Effects on Participation Rates, Sample Composition, and Costs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bianchi Annamaria

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Sequential mixed-mode designs are increasingly considered as an alternative to interviewer-administered data collection, allowing researchers to take advantage of the benefits of each mode. We assess the effects of the introduction of a sequential web-face-to-face mixed-mode design over three waves of a longitudinal survey in which members were previously interviewed face-to-face. Findings are reported from a large-scale randomised experiment carried out on the UK Household Longitudinal Study. No differences are found between the mixed-mode design and face-to-face design in terms of cumulative response rates and only minimal differences in terms of sample composition. On the other hand, potential cost savings are evident.

  6. Raising the Bar: Standards and Tests in California's High Schools. A Town Hall Meeting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnstine, Barbara; Futernick, Ken; Hodson, Timothy A.; Ostgaard, Kolleen

    In 1999, the LegiSchool Project planned to conduct the 12th in its series of televised Town Hall Meetings to provide a forum in which California high school students, educators, and legislators can engage in face-to-face dialogue about problems of mutual interest. For 1999, the topic is standards and tests in California high schools. This guide…

  7. Dissecting contributions of prefrontal cortex and fusiform face area to face working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Druzgal, T Jason; D'Esposito, Mark

    2003-08-15

    Interactions between prefrontal cortex (PFC) and stimulus-specific visual cortical association areas are hypothesized to mediate visual working memory in behaving monkeys. To clarify the roles for homologous regions in humans, event-related fMRI was used to assess neural activity in PFC and fusiform face area (FFA) of subjects performing a delay-recognition task for faces. In both PFC and FFA, activity increased parametrically with memory load during encoding and maintenance of face stimuli, despite quantitative differences in the magnitude of activation. Moreover, timing differences in PFC and FFA activation during memory encoding and retrieval implied a context dependence in the flow of neural information. These results support existing neurophysiological models of visual working memory developed in the nonhuman primate.

  8. Multithread Face Recognition in Cloud

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dakshina Ranjan Kisku

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Faces are highly challenging and dynamic objects that are employed as biometrics evidence in identity verification. Recently, biometrics systems have proven to be an essential security tools, in which bulk matching of enrolled people and watch lists is performed every day. To facilitate this process, organizations with large computing facilities need to maintain these facilities. To minimize the burden of maintaining these costly facilities for enrollment and recognition, multinational companies can transfer this responsibility to third-party vendors who can maintain cloud computing infrastructures for recognition. In this paper, we showcase cloud computing-enabled face recognition, which utilizes PCA-characterized face instances and reduces the number of invariant SIFT points that are extracted from each face. To achieve high interclass and low intraclass variances, a set of six PCA-characterized face instances is computed on columns of each face image by varying the number of principal components. Extracted SIFT keypoints are fused using sum and max fusion rules. A novel cohort selection technique is applied to increase the total performance. The proposed protomodel is tested on BioID and FEI face databases, and the efficacy of the system is proven based on the obtained results. We also compare the proposed method with other well-known methods.

  9. Increasing availability to and ascertaining value of asthma action plans in schools through use of technology and community collaboration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanson, Tabitha K; Aleman, Martha; Hart, Lacey; Yawn, Barbara

    2013-12-01

    Approximately 9% of school-aged children in the United States have asthma. Since 1997, the Asthma Action Plan (AAP) has been recommended as an asthma self-management tool for individuals with asthma. In the school setting, the use of the AAP has been primarily dependent on communication between the family and the school through a paper process. To address the limited availability of AAPs, the Southeast Minnesota Beacon Project developed and implemented a secure portal designed for the electronic exchange of the AAP between providers and schools. This project was designed to assess school nurses' responses to the portal and the perceived value of AAPs, efficiency, self-efficacy, and project impact. School nurses perceive that the AAP enables more efficient management of the care of students with asthma and increases school nurse self-efficacy in regard to asthma management. Overall, school nurses felt the AAP portal was useful and they reported satisfaction with its function as a school health office resource. Electronic sharing of the AAP has the potential to increase efficiency and enhance effective communication among health care providers, families, and schools. © 2013, American School Health Association.

  10. Successful decoding of famous faces in the fusiform face area.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vadim Axelrod

    Full Text Available What are the neural mechanisms of face recognition? It is believed that the network of face-selective areas, which spans the occipital, temporal, and frontal cortices, is important in face recognition. A number of previous studies indeed reported that face identity could be discriminated based on patterns of multivoxel activity in the fusiform face area and the anterior temporal lobe. However, given the difficulty in localizing the face-selective area in the anterior temporal lobe, its role in face recognition is still unknown. Furthermore, previous studies limited their analysis to occipito-temporal regions without testing identity decoding in more anterior face-selective regions, such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. In the current high-resolution functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging study, we systematically examined the decoding of the identity of famous faces in the temporo-frontal network of face-selective and adjacent non-face-selective regions. A special focus has been put on the face-area in the anterior temporal lobe, which was reliably localized using an optimized scanning protocol. We found that face-identity could be discriminated above chance level only in the fusiform face area. Our results corroborate the role of the fusiform face area in face recognition. Future studies are needed to further explore the role of the more recently discovered anterior face-selective areas in face recognition.

  11. Real Time Face Quality Assessment for Face Log Generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kamal, Nasrollahi; Moeslund, Thomas B.

    2009-01-01

    Summarizing a long surveillance video to just a few best quality face images of each subject, a face-log, is of great importance in surveillance systems. Face quality assessment is the back-bone for face log generation and improving the quality assessment makes the face logs more reliable....... Developing a real time face quality assessment system using the most important facial features and employing it for face logs generation are the concerns of this paper. Extensive tests using four databases are carried out to validate the usability of the system....

  12. South Dakota School Principals' Preferred Leadership Styles for Leading Change to Face Poverty and Discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soka, John Alex

    2011-01-01

    This quantitative research study identified perceptions regarding leadership styles of a sample of high school, middle school, and elementary school principals serving in South Dakota public and tribal/BIE (Bureau of Indian Education) schools in 2011. From 152 public school districts and 20 tribal/BIE schools, a sample of 148 school principals was…

  13. A formative evaluation of a high school blended learning biology course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nellman, Stephen William

    As growing student populations continue to tax the resources of public high schools, administrators are constantly looking for ways to address the needs of all students. One option for increasing the number of students in a classroom without sacrificing quality of instruction is to use "blended learning". Blended learning is defined by Marsh et al. (2003, p.2) as a situation where "face-to-face and distance education delivery methods and resources are merged". In such a course, students receive the benefits of classroom-based instruction, while also benefiting from several aspects of distance learning. This is especially true for science courses that rely heavily on both hands-on labs and various multimedia. The purpose of this study was a formative evaluation of a high school blended learning biology course, focusing on a genetics unit. The research question addressed by the study was "Will participants increase their domain knowledge and problem-solving skills after instruction in a high school level blended distance learning biology course? Also investigated was if higher levels of self-regulation skills were correlated to higher levels of content-understanding and problem-solving. The study was composed of a pilot study and a main study. Participants were students in an urban Southern California public high school biology course. Classroom instruction was from a single instructor, and online content was managed using the "Moodle" course management system. Participants were assessed for their gains in genetics content-understanding, genetics problem-solving skills (Punnett squares), and self-regulation. Additionally, participant reactions to the blended instruction model were surveyed. Results indicated that significant increases (pself-regulation skills were not shown to be significantly correlated to increased content-understanding, or problem-solving skills. Participants reacted positively to the blended model, suggesting that it be used more often in their

  14. Are Young Generations in Secondary School Digitally Competent? A Study on Italian Teenagers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvani, Aomina; Fini, Antonio; Ranieri, Maria; Picci, Patrizia

    2012-01-01

    Digital competences amongst the younger generations and the role of schools faced with the spread of new youth practices are topics of increasing interest. Some commentators state that, thanks to the intensive use of digital media, young people are developing significant competences that also correspond to important cognitive processes and new…

  15. Bringing Street Art to School: Open to Include

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Graça Duarte; Varandas, Elisabete

    2016-01-01

    Inclusive Education values differences by reducing barriers to learning and promoting active participation and positive interactions between all members of school community. Nowadays, school faces numerous children/adolescents who for several reasons have developed challenging behaviours and high risk of dropping out school. They come often from…

  16. Portrait of Rural Virtual Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbour, Michael K.

    2007-01-01

    Over the past two decades, distance education has become a reality of rural schooling in Newfoundland and Labrador. In this article, I provide historical background into the challenges facing rural schools in the province and how distance education was introduced to address that challenge. I also describe how that system of distance education…

  17. Active illumination and appearance model for face alignment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kahraman, Fatih; Gokmen, M.; Darkner, Sune

    2010-01-01

    Illumination conditions have an explicit effect on the performance of face recognition systems. In particular, varying the illumination upon the face imposes such, complex effects that the identification often fails to provide a stable performance level. In this paper, we propose an approach......, integrating face identity and illumination models in order to reach acceptable and stable face recognition rates. For this purpose, Active Appearance Model (A AM) and illumination model of faces are combined in order to obtain an illumination invariant face localization. The proposed method is an integrated......, is sufficient. There is no need to build complex models for illumination. As a result, this paper has presented a simple and efficient method for face modeling and face alignment in order to increase the performance of face localization by means of the proposed illumination invariant AIA method for face...

  18. Obtaining active parental consent for school-based research: a guide for researchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfenden, Luke; Kypri, Kypros; Freund, Megan; Hodder, Rebecca

    2009-06-01

    Schools increasingly require researchers to obtain active parental consent for students to participate in health research. We sought to identify effective strategies for the recruitment of child research participants through schools. A search of Medline, PsycINFO, Educational Resources Information Center, ProQuest 5000 and the Cochrane Library electronic databases was conducted for the period 1988 to 2008. The review found evidence that the following strategies may be effective in enhancing participation rates: 1) promotion of the research to school principals, teachers, parents and students; 2) dissemination of study information using methods allowing direct contact with parents (i.e. telephone or face-to-face); 3) provision of incentives to teachers, students and at a class level; 4) making reminder contacts; and 5) having a member of the research team co-ordinate and closely monitor the recruitment process. Application of these strategies should reduce the risk of non-response and other biases that result from selective non-participation. Further randomised controlled trials of these and other strategies are required to strengthen the evidence base.

  19. Cross-modal face recognition using multi-matcher face scores

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yufeng; Blasch, Erik

    2015-05-01

    The performance of face recognition can be improved using information fusion of multimodal images and/or multiple algorithms. When multimodal face images are available, cross-modal recognition is meaningful for security and surveillance applications. For example, a probe face is a thermal image (especially at nighttime), while only visible face images are available in the gallery database. Matching a thermal probe face onto the visible gallery faces requires crossmodal matching approaches. A few such studies were implemented in facial feature space with medium recognition performance. In this paper, we propose a cross-modal recognition approach, where multimodal faces are cross-matched in feature space and the recognition performance is enhanced with stereo fusion at image, feature and/or score level. In the proposed scenario, there are two cameras for stereo imaging, two face imagers (visible and thermal images) in each camera, and three recognition algorithms (circular Gaussian filter, face pattern byte, linear discriminant analysis). A score vector is formed with three cross-matched face scores from the aforementioned three algorithms. A classifier (e.g., k-nearest neighbor, support vector machine, binomial logical regression [BLR]) is trained then tested with the score vectors by using 10-fold cross validations. The proposed approach was validated with a multispectral stereo face dataset from 105 subjects. Our experiments show very promising results: ACR (accuracy rate) = 97.84%, FAR (false accept rate) = 0.84% when cross-matching the fused thermal faces onto the fused visible faces by using three face scores and the BLR classifier.

  20. Meta-analytic review of the development of face discrimination in infancy: Face race, face gender, infant age, and methodology moderate face discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugden, Nicole A; Marquis, Alexandra R

    2017-11-01

    Infants show facility for discriminating between individual faces within hours of birth. Over the first year of life, infants' face discrimination shows continued improvement with familiar face types, such as own-race faces, but not with unfamiliar face types, like other-race faces. The goal of this meta-analytic review is to provide an effect size for infants' face discrimination ability overall, with own-race faces, and with other-race faces within the first year of life, how this differs with age, and how it is influenced by task methodology. Inclusion criteria were (a) infant participants aged 0 to 12 months, (b) completing a human own- or other-race face discrimination task, (c) with discrimination being determined by infant looking. Our analysis included 30 works (165 samples, 1,926 participants participated in 2,623 tasks). The effect size for infants' face discrimination was small, 6.53% greater than chance (i.e., equal looking to the novel and familiar). There was a significant difference in discrimination by race, overall (own-race, 8.18%; other-race, 3.18%) and between ages (own-race: 0- to 4.5-month-olds, 7.32%; 5- to 7.5-month-olds, 9.17%; and 8- to 12-month-olds, 7.68%; other-race: 0- to 4.5-month-olds, 6.12%; 5- to 7.5-month-olds, 3.70%; and 8- to 12-month-olds, 2.79%). Multilevel linear (mixed-effects) models were used to predict face discrimination; infants' capacity to discriminate faces is sensitive to face characteristics including race, gender, and emotion as well as the methods used, including task timing, coding method, and visual angle. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  1. An Introduction to Face Recognition Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shang-Hung Lin

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available Recently face recognition is attracting much attention in the society of network multimedia information access.  Areas such as network security, content indexing and retrieval, and video compression benefits from face recognition technology because "people" are the center of attention in a lot of video.  Network access control via face recognition not only makes hackers virtually impossible to steal one's "password", but also increases the user-friendliness in human-computer interaction.  Indexing and/or retrieving video data based on the appearances of particular persons will be useful for users such as news reporters, political scientists, and moviegoers.  For the applications of videophone and teleconferencing, the assistance of face recognition also provides a more efficient coding scheme.  In this paper, we give an introductory course of this new information processing technology.  The paper shows the readers the generic framework for the face recognition system, and the variants that are frequently encountered by the face recognizer.  Several famous face recognition algorithms, such as eigenfaces and neural networks, will also be explained.

  2. Enablements and constraints to school leadership practice

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    There are many schools in developing countries which, despite the challenges they face, defy the odds and continue to perform at exceptionally high levels. We cast our gaze on one of these resilient schools in South Africa, and sought to learn about the leadership practices prevalent in this school and the enablements and ...

  3. Teachers’ Perceptions of E-Learning in Malaysian Secondary Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mei Lick Cheok

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Malaysian teachers are constantly challenged with many new technologies that are believed to enable them to perform their job better. In 2013, they have been given access to an online learning space known as the FROG VLE. However, initial evidence has shown poor adoption of the e-learning. As schools are becoming increasingly disconnected from the societies of which they are a part, teachers withdrawing into their old familiar landscapes of teaching and learning can no longer be accepted. Being the implementers in the classrooms, their perceptions’ towards any innovation are important if the innovation is to be taken up seriously and to be implemented. Measures to improve present condition in order to sustain and increase e-learning uptake, can only be carried out if we know the situations and conditions teachers are in. A qualitative approach was used to identify the views and experiences of 60 secondary school teachers towards the implementation and continued use of VLEs in three secondary schools in Malaysia. This is to obtain a more nuanced explanation for the perceptions teachers’ have towards e-learning. Data was collected using an open-ended questionnaire. The results among others highlight the benefits as perceived by the teachers, the main barriers they faced and suggestions to better improve the implementation. Implications for teacher preparation, staff development efforts and education reform are proposed to overcome the challenges faced. View it in PDF

  4. Voicing on Virtual and Face to Face Discussion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamat, Hamidah

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents and discusses findings of a study conducted on pre-service teachers' experiences in virtual and face to face discussions. Technology has brought learning nowadays beyond the classroom context or time zone. The learning context and process no longer rely solely on face to face communications in the presence of a teacher.…

  5. Facing Aggression: Cues Differ for Female versus Male Faces

    OpenAIRE

    Geniole, Shawn N.; Keyes, Amanda E.; Mondloch, Catherine J.; Carr?, Justin M.; McCormick, Cheryl M.

    2012-01-01

    The facial width-to-height ratio (face ratio), is a sexually dimorphic metric associated with actual aggression in men and with observers' judgements of aggression in male faces. Here, we sought to determine if observers' judgements of aggression were associated with the face ratio in female faces. In three studies, participants rated photographs of female and male faces on aggression, femininity, masculinity, attractiveness, and nurturing. In Studies 1 and 2, for female and male faces, judge...

  6. Buzz: Face-to-Face Contact and the Urban Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Michael Storper; Anthony J. Venables

    2003-01-01

    This paper argues that existing models of urban concentrations are incomplete unless grounded in the most fundamental aspect of proximity; face-to-face contact. Face-to-face contact has four main features; it is an efficient communication technology; it can help solve incentive problems; it can facilitate socialization and learning; and it provides psychological motivation. We discuss each of these features in turn, and develop formal economic models of two of them. Face-to-face is particular...

  7. The Effect of Face-to-Face Teaching on Student Knowledge and Satisfaction in an Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whillier, Stephney; Lystad, Reidar P.

    2013-01-01

    The total number of anatomy teaching hours has declined in medical courses worldwide. Conversely, face-to-face teaching in undergraduate neuroanatomy at Macquarie University increased by 50% in 2011. Our aim was to investigate whether this influenced student performance and overall satisfaction with the course. One hundred eighty-one students…

  8. How private vehicle use increases ambient air pollution concentrations at schools during the morning drop-off of children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Matthew D.; Requia, Weeberb J.

    2017-09-01

    A child's exposure to environmental pollutants can have life-long health effects. Thus it is critical to understand the potential exposure pathways. In this paper, we examine the increase in ambient PM2.5 concentrations at schools from private vehicle use for dropping children off at school. In North America, students are commonly driven to school in a private vehicle. Additionally, students walk or cycle, or take a school bus. Our vehicle surveys recorded between 23 and 116 personal vehicles at 25 schools, where enrolment ranged from 160 to 765 students. We fit a linear regression model to predict the number of vehicles at schools we did not observe within our study area, which explained 57% of the variation in our surveys. A microsimulation traffic model was created for each of the 86 schools we studied. Outputs from the traffic model were used to determine the emissions generated at each school. PM2.5 emissions varied from 0.14 to 6.38 g. Lastly, we dispersed the emissions produced by private vehicles dropping off students, which are emissions generated by unnecessary trips because students further than walking distance are provided transportation by the school board. At the drop-off location in front of the school, we found ambient concentration increases of at least 5 μg/m3, 10 μg/m3, 25 μg/m3 and 50 μg/m3 during 16.8%, 7.6%, 2.0% and 0.5% of the mornings, respectively. This research was conducted in a medium-sized North American city and should allow transferability to similar cities. We conclude that the use of private vehicles can significantly increase local concentrations, regardless of background conditions.

  9. Schools, "Ferals", Stigma and Boundary Work: Parents Managing Education and Uncertainty in Regional Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butler, Rose

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines forms of boundary work undertaken by parents in a regional Australian city to negotiate social processes around the school market amidst rising economic insecurity. It outlines structural changes, which have increased economic inequality in Australia and impacted on educational reform, and the specific challenges faced by…

  10. The Role of Health Educators in Mitigating Health Risk from Increasing Screen Time in Schools and at Home

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merga, Margaret K.; Williams, Ross

    2016-01-01

    Contemporary health educators in schools are responsible for promoting the health of individual students, as well as a healthy school environment. The ongoing push for increasing device use in schools, which is underpinned by the information and communications technology (ICT) capability requirements of the new Australian Curriculum, can…

  11. European cinema: face to face with Hollywood

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Elsaesser, T.

    2005-01-01

    In the face of renewed competition from Hollywood since the early 1980s and the challenges posed to Europe's national cinemas by the fall of the Wall in 1989, independent filmmaking in Europe has begun to re-invent itself. European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood re-assesses the different

  12. Urban School Chiefs Under Fire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuban, Larry

    This study examines three veteran urban school superintendents who were highly respected by their colleagues but who came under intense pressure from forces outside the school systems in the 1960's. Chapter 1 explores the context of the desegregation controversy and the furor over an independent evaluation that faced Benjamin C. Willis in Chicago.…

  13. Families with School-Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christensen, Kathleen; Schneider, Barbara; Butler, Donnell

    2011-01-01

    Most working parents face a common dilemma--how to care for their children when they are not in school but the parents are at work. In this article Kathleen Christensen, Barbara Schneider, and Donnell Butler describe the predictable and unpredictable scheduling demands school-age children place on working couples and single working parents. The…

  14. Making ends meet - when school leaders use data and feedback in the development of leadership practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Pernille; Nørgaard, Camilla; Hornskov, Søren

    In the wake of a major school reform in Denmark, school leaders face a policy driven demand for developing leadership practices, which contributes to increasing learning outcomes for all students. The use of data, assessment and feedback are promoted as part and parcel of such leadership practices...... or with a reference to the formative use of data for development (Hornskov et al 2015). However, in our case study of how school leadership teams use and interpret data and feedback on their own leadership practices, the boundaries between accountability and development does not seem clear cut....

  15. Who are you looking at? The influence of face gender on visual attention and memory for own- and other-race faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lovén, Johanna; Rehnman, Jenny; Wiens, Stefan; Lindholm, Torun; Peira, Nathalie; Herlitz, Agneta

    2012-01-01

    Previous research suggests that the own-race bias (ORB) in memory for faces is a result of other-race faces receiving less visual attention at encoding. As women typically display an own-gender bias in memory for faces and men do not, we investigated whether face gender and sex of viewer influenced visual attention and memory for own- and other-race faces, and if preferential viewing of own-race faces contributed to the ORB in memory. Participants viewed pairs of female or male own- and other-race faces while their viewing time was recorded. Afterwards, they completed a surprise memory test. We found that (1) other-race males received the initial focus of attention, (2) own-race faces were viewed longer than other-race faces over time, although the difference was larger for female faces, and (3) even though longer viewing time increased the probability of remembering a face, it did not explain the magnified ORB in memory for female faces. Importantly, these findings highlight that face gender moderates attentional responses to and memory for own- and other-race faces.

  16. Understanding the dynamics of parent involvement in schooling ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Understanding the dynamics of parent involvement in schooling within the poverty context. ... South African Journal of Education ... understand the realities and dynamics facing parents when attempting to be involved in their child\\'s schooling.

  17. Tall Poppies: Bullying Behaviors Faced by Australian High-Performance School-Age Athletes

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, Maureen; Calder, Angela; Allen, Bill

    2014-01-01

    Little is known about Australian high-performance school-age athletes' experiences as victims of the tall poppy syndrome. Tall poppies are successful individuals bullied by those who are less successful in order to "normalize them." Nineteen current or previous national or international high-performance school-age athletes were…

  18. Comparison of Face-to-Face and Online Mathematics Learning of Sixth Graders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Clayton M.; Rule, Audrey C.; Boody, Robert M.

    2013-01-01

    Online education is increasing in popularity at the college and high school levels with several studies showing the comparability of e-learning and more traditional methods. Middle school students' ability to function well with this mode of instruction has not been established in the literature, although the circumstances of Generation Z growing…

  19. The relationship between cultural competence education and increasing diversity in nursing schools and practice settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pacquiao, Dula

    2007-01-01

    This article attempted to examine the relationship between cultural competence education and increasing diversity in nursing schools and practice settings. In addition to the review of the literature, a panel of experts was interviewed regarding institutional practices in response to the challenge of increasing diversity and cultural competence education. Evidence of positive outcomes of cultural competent care and impact of race and ethnic concordance between patients and providers are presented. The challenge of increasing underrepresented minorities in health care professions remains elusive. An ecological analysis is recommended to address the social and cultural barriers that transcend the micro system of the school and the macro system of the society. The challenge of increasing diversity and realizing outcomes of cultural competence education requires social and comprehensive remedies to level life inequities that perpetuate a history of disadvantages in some groups.

  20. Bullying and School Liability--Implications for School Personnel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essex, Nathan

    2011-01-01

    Bullying is a serious and escalating problem in public schools across America. Each day, thousands of students face taunts and humiliation stemming from bullies. Bullying victims experience emotional and psychological problems that may persist for a lifetime. Other victims commit suicide or retaliate against bullies out of fear for their own…

  1. School choice: challenge to Sharpeville public school principals

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Erna Kinsey

    Every group had its own educational system, adminis- tration and ... School choice enables children from poor families and different race groups to .... ings of the research as authentic experiences, as lived and perceived by informants. ..... another. (One sees beautiful smiles on faces of learners as they speak). We do not ...

  2. The Caledonian face test: A new test of face discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logan, Andrew J; Wilkinson, Frances; Wilson, Hugh R; Gordon, Gael E; Loffler, Gunter

    2016-02-01

    This study aimed to develop a clinical test of face perception which is applicable to a wide range of patients and can capture normal variability. The Caledonian face test utilises synthetic faces which combine simplicity with sufficient realism to permit individual identification. Face discrimination thresholds (i.e. minimum difference between faces required for accurate discrimination) were determined in an "odd-one-out" task. The difference between faces was controlled by an adaptive QUEST procedure. A broad range of face discrimination sensitivity was determined from a group (N=52) of young adults (mean 5.75%; SD 1.18; range 3.33-8.84%). The test is fast (3-4 min), repeatable (test-re-test r(2)=0.795) and demonstrates a significant inversion effect. The potential to identify impairments of face discrimination was evaluated by testing LM who reported a lifelong difficulty with face perception. While LM's impairment for two established face tests was close to the criterion for significance (Z-scores of -2.20 and -2.27) for the Caledonian face test, her Z-score was -7.26, implying a more than threefold higher sensitivity. The new face test provides a quantifiable and repeatable assessment of face discrimination ability. The enhanced sensitivity suggests that the Caledonian face test may be capable of detecting more subtle impairments of face perception than available tests. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Leadership in school nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harshberger, Lorri A; Katrancha, Elizabeth D

    2009-03-01

    Whether you are new to school nursing or have been practicing for years, you must be aware that the title of school nurse puts you in a position of leadership. You lead students, faculty and staff in your school; you lead the community in which you live and work. You guide people toward health. They request information when faced with a health crisis. You take control in emergencies. School nurses are at the forefront of developing school health policies and procedures. Do you have the qualities of a leader? "The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader" (Maxwell, 1999) expounds the characteristics of a good leader. This book helps the school nurse in the quest toward leadership. The following is a discussion of the main points of this book and their application to school nursing.

  4. Face-Lift Satisfaction Using the FACE-Q.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinno, Sammy; Schwitzer, Jonathan; Anzai, Lavinia; Thorne, Charles H

    2015-08-01

    Face lifting is one of the most common operative procedures for facial aging and perhaps the procedure most synonymous with plastic surgery in the minds of the lay public, but no verifiable documentation of patient satisfaction exists in the literature. This study is the first to examine face-lift outcomes and patient satisfaction using a validated questionnaire. One hundred five patients undergoing a face lift performed by the senior author (C.H.T.) using a high, extended-superficial musculoaponeurotic system with submental platysma approximation technique were asked to complete anonymously the FACE-Q by e-mail. FACE-Q scores were assessed for each domain (range, 0 to 100), with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction with appearance or superior quality of life. Fifty-three patients completed the FACE-Q (50.5 percent response rate). Patients demonstrated high satisfaction with facial appearance (mean ± SD, 80.7 ± 22.3), and quality of life, including social confidence (90.4 ± 16.6), psychological well-being (92.8 ± 14.3), and early life impact (92.2 ± 16.4). Patients also reported extremely high satisfaction with their decision to undergo face lifting (90.5 ± 15.9). On average, patients felt they appeared 6.9 years younger than their actual age. Patients were most satisfied with the appearance of their nasolabial folds (86.2 ± 18.5), cheeks (86.1 ± 25.4), and lower face/jawline (86.0 ± 20.6), compared with their necks (78.1 ± 25.6) and area under the chin (67.9 ± 32.3). Patients who responded in this study were extremely satisfied with their decision to undergo face lifting and the outcomes and quality of life following the procedure.

  5. A Face Inversion Effect without a Face

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandman, Talia; Yovel, Galit

    2012-01-01

    Numerous studies have attributed the face inversion effect (FIE) to configural processing of internal facial features in upright but not inverted faces. Recent findings suggest that face mechanisms can be activated by faceless stimuli presented in the context of a body. Here we asked whether faceless stimuli with or without body context may induce…

  6. Female Leadership Dilemmas in Primary Schools: A Case Study of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Female Leadership Dilemmas in Primary Schools: A Case Study of Primary Schools in Harare Province in Zimbabwe. ... Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research ... The study sought to explore dilemmas faced by female school leaders in primary schools in Kambuzuma, Warren Park and Kuwadzana areas of Harare ...

  7. Evaluation of the challenges faced in increasing contraceptive access within a community college population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamme, Jacqueline; Edelman, Alison; Padua, Emily; Jensen, Jeffrey T

    2017-01-01

    Research demonstrates removing barriers to access, decreasing costs and offering same-day placement of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) increases contraceptive uptake in young women. For those in community college (CC), LARC utilization might reduce the risk of dropout and improve degree completion. We identified a local school who had documented an unmet need for on-campus services through a recent student assessment. We then established an on-campus, same day contraceptive clinic at the CC as part of a clinical trial. We found that students did not use the service even after multiple attempts to increase awareness and we ended the study. Here, we report lessons learned from attempting research in this environment in addition to results from a follow-up survey to determine why students did not access the clinical resource. Students reported that they already had good access to contraception and preferred to get their healthcare off-campus. This study demonstrates the complexities of studying highly focused interventions to influence access to care in the current health care environment with ever changing regulations. NCT02735551 . Registered April 6, 2016.

  8. Making a Difference in Research and Practice: A Commentary on "Consulting to Facilitate Planned Organizational Change in Schools," an Article by Joseph E. Zins and Robert J. Illback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flaspohler, Paul D.

    2007-01-01

    Zins and Illback observed in 1995 that planned organizational change processes were neglected in practice, training, and research. In the decade following publication of their article, implementation of processes and structures of planned organizational change increased dramatically. Schools and school districts continue to face increased…

  9. Remote versus face-to-face check-ups for asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kew, Kayleigh M; Cates, Christopher J

    2016-04-18

    that compared two general practice populations demonstrated that offering telephone check-ups and proactively phoning participants increased the number of people with asthma who received a review. However, we do not know whether the additional participants who had a telephone check-up subsequently benefited in asthma outcomes. Current randomised evidence does not demonstrate any important differences between face-to-face and remote asthma check-ups in terms of exacerbations, asthma control or quality of life. There is insufficient information to rule out differences in efficacy, or to say whether or not remote asthma check-ups are a safe alternative to being seen face-to-face.

  10. Embedded Face Detection and Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Göksel Günlü

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The need to increase security in open or public spaces has in turn given rise to the requirement to monitor these spaces and analyse those images on-site and on-time. At this point, the use of smart cameras – of which the popularity has been increasing – is one step ahead. With sensors and Digital Signal Processors (DSPs, smart cameras generate ad hoc results by analysing the numeric images transmitted from the sensor by means of a variety of image-processing algorithms. Since the images are not transmitted to a distance processing unit but rather are processed inside the camera, it does not necessitate high-bandwidth networks or high processor powered systems; it can instantaneously decide on the required access. Nonetheless, on account of restricted memory, processing power and overall power, image processing algorithms need to be developed and optimized for embedded processors. Among these algorithms, one of the most important is for face detection and recognition. A number of face detection and recognition methods have been proposed recently and many of these methods have been tested on general-purpose processors. In smart cameras – which are real-life applications of such methods – the widest use is on DSPs. In the present study, the Viola-Jones face detection method – which was reported to run faster on PCs – was optimized for DSPs; the face recognition method was combined with the developed sub-region and mask-based DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform. As the employed DSP is a fixed-point processor, the processes were performed with integers insofar as it was possible. To enable face recognition, the image was divided into sub-regions and from each sub-region the robust coefficients against disruptive elements – like face expression, illumination, etc. – were selected as the features. The discrimination of the selected features was enhanced via LDA (Linear Discriminant Analysis and then employed for recognition. Thanks to its

  11. Increasing portion sizes of fruits and vegetables in an elementary school lunch program can increase fruit and vegetable consumption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Nicole; Reicks, Marla; Redden, Joseph P; Mann, Traci; Mykerezi, Elton; Vickers, Zata

    2015-08-01

    Increasing portion size can increase children's consumption of food. The goal of this study was to determine whether increasing the portion sizes of fruits and vegetables in an elementary school cafeteria environment would increase children's consumption of them. We measured each child's consumption of the fruit and vegetables served in a cafeteria line on a control day (normal cafeteria procedures) and on two intervention days. When we increased the portion size of 3 of the 4 fruits and vegetables by about 50%, children who took those foods increased their consumption of them. Although this was an effective strategy for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among students who took those foods, many children chose not to take any fruits or vegetables. Further efforts are needed to increase children's selection and consumption of fruits and vegetables in an environment of competing foods of higher palatability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Using a Computer-based Messaging System at a High School To Increase School/Home Communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burden, Mitzi K.

    Minimal communication between school and home was found to contribute to low performance by students at McDuffie High School (South Carolina). This report describes the experience of establishing a computer-based telephone messaging system in the high school and involving parents, teachers, and students in its use. Additional strategies employed…

  13. Series 'Facing Radiation'. 2 Facing radiation is facing residents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanzawa, Takahiro

    2013-01-01

    The series is to report how general people, who are not at all radiological experts, have faced and understood the problems and tasks of radiation given by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident (Mar. 2011). The section 2 is reported by an officer of Date City, which localizes at 60 km northern west of the Plant, borders on Iitate Village of Fukushima prefecture, and is indicated as the important area of contamination search (IACS), which the reporter has been conducted for as responsible personnel. In July 2011, the ambient dose was as high as 3.0-3.5 mc-Sv/h and the tentative storage place of contaminated materials was decided by own initiative of residents of a small community, from which the real decontamination started in the City. The target dose after decontamination was defined to be 1.0 mc-Sv/h: however, 28/32 IACS municipalities in the prefecture had not defined the target although they had worked for 2 years after the Accident for their areas exceeding the standard 0.23 mc-Sv/h. At the moment of decontamination of the reporter's own house, he noticed that resident's concerns had directed toward its work itself, not toward the target dose, and wondered if these figures had obstructed to correctly face the radiation. At present that about 2.5 years have passed since the Accident, all of Date citizens have personal accumulated glass dosimeters for seeing the effective external dose and it seems that their dose will not exceed 1 mSv/y if the ambient dose estimated is 0.3-5 mc-Sv/h. Media run to popularity not to face radiation, experts tend to hesitate to face media and residents, and radiation dose will be hardly reduced to zero, despite that correct understanding of radiation is a shorter way for residents' own ease: facing radiation is facing residents. (T.T.)

  14. Multi-stream face recognition for crime-fighting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jassim, Sabah A.; Sellahewa, Harin

    2007-04-01

    Automatic face recognition (AFR) is a challenging task that is increasingly becoming the preferred biometric trait for identification and has the potential of becoming an essential tool in the fight against crime and terrorism. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have increasingly been used over the last few years for surveillance in public places such as airports, train stations and shopping centers. They are used to detect and prevent crime, shoplifting, public disorder and terrorism. The work of law-enforcing and intelligence agencies is becoming more reliant on the use of databases of biometric data for large section of the population. Face is one of the most natural biometric traits that can be used for identification and surveillance. However, variations in lighting conditions, facial expressions, face size and pose are a great obstacle to AFR. This paper is concerned with using waveletbased face recognition schemes in the presence of variations of expressions and illumination. In particular, we will investigate the use of a combination of wavelet frequency channels for a multi-stream face recognition using various wavelet subbands as different face signal streams. The proposed schemes extend our recently developed face veri.cation scheme for implementation on mobile devices. We shall present experimental results on the performance of our proposed schemes for a number of face databases including a new AV database recorded on a PDA. By analyzing the various experimental data, we shall demonstrate that the multi-stream approach is robust against variations in illumination and facial expressions than the previous single-stream approach.

  15. Critical Routes: Women Facing Violence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stela Nazareth Meneghel

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the Critical Routes International Seminar – Women Facing Violence , which took place in Porto Alegre in 2008. The seminar was promoted by the Graduate Program on Collective Health at Unisinos and by the Public Health School/RS and was supported by outstanding researchers working in the fields of collective health, and social and human sciences. Initially, we discuss some conceptual aspects about gender violence, its dimensions and its consequences for the health and the life quality of the affected women. Our understanding is that violence is one of the most effective methods of controlling women in societies scarred with gender hierarchies. The structure of the seminar focused on three main discussion themes: breaking up with the violence, mechanisms for working with gender and hearing the services. These themes were chosen aiming at looking for ways to help the women and to explore efficient mechanisms to combat, reduce and, if possible, eliminate the violence perpetrated against women. At the end of the seminar, we reiterate the political commitment on the accomplishment of the public policies to face violence and the fight against all inequality, discrimination and violence forms based on gender.

  16. Increasing the admission rate to upper secondary school

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoest, A.; Jensen, V.M.; Nielsen, L.P.

    2013-01-01

    Although several studies investigate the effects of school resources on student performance, these studies tend to focus more on intervention effect sizes than on their cost-effectiveness. Exploiting policy-induced variation in Denmark and using high-quality administrative data, we investigate...... to upper secondary school between 4.0 and 6.3 percentage points for immigrants, but shows at best small improvements for the native students....

  17. Understanding Students' Transition to High School: Demographic Variation and the Role of Supportive Relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benner, Aprile D; Boyle, Alaina E; Bakhtiari, Farin

    2017-10-01

    The transition to high school is disruptive for many adolescents, yet little is known about the supportive relational processes that might attenuate the challenges students face as they move from middle to high school, particularly for students from more diverse backgrounds. Identifying potential buffers that protect youth across this critical educational transition is important for informing more effective support services for youth. In this study, we investigated how personal characteristics (gender, nativity, parent education level) and changes in support from family, friends, and school influenced changes in socioemotional adjustment and academic outcomes across the transition from middle to high school. The data were drawn from 252 students (50% females, 85% Latina/o). The results revealed declines in students' grades and increases in depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness across the high school transition, with key variation by student nativity and gender. Additionally, stable/increasing friend support and school belonging were both linked to less socioemotional disruptions as students moved from middle to high school. Increasing/stable school belonging was also linked to increases in school engagement across the high school transition. These findings suggest that when high school transitions disrupt supportive relationships with important others in adolescents' lives, adolescents' socioemotional well-being and, to a lesser extent, their academic engagement are also compromised. Thus, in designing transition support activities, particularly for schools serving more low-income and race/ethnic minority youth, such efforts should strive to acclimate new high school students by providing inclusive, caring environments and positive connections with educators and peers.

  18. Increasing students’ physical activity during school physical education: rationale and protocol for the SELF-FIT cluster randomized controlled trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amy S. Ha

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Self-determined Exercise and Learning For FITness (SELF-FIT is a multi-component school-based intervention based on tenets of self-determination theory. SELF-FIT aims to increase students’ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA during physical education lessons, and enhance their autonomous motivation towards fitness activities. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial, we aim to examine the effects of the intervention on students’ MVPA during school physical education. Methods Secondary 2 students (approximately aged 14 years from 26 classes in 26 different schools will be recruited. After baseline assessments, students will be randomized into either the experimental group or wait-list control group using a matched-pair randomization. Teachers allocated to the experimental group will attend two half-day workshops and deliver the SELF-FIT intervention for 8 weeks. The main intervention components include training teachers to teach in more need supportive ways, and conducting fitness exercises using a fitness dice with interchangeable faces. Other motivational components, such as playing music during classes, are also included. The primary outcome of the trial is students’ MVPA during PE lessons. Secondary outcomes include students’ leisure-time MVPA, perceived need support from teachers, need satisfaction, autonomous motivation towards physical education, intention to engage in physical activity, psychological well-being, and health-related fitness (cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness. Quantitative data will be analyzed using multilevel modeling approaches. Focus group interviews will also be conducted to assess students’ perceptions of the intervention. Discussion The SELF-FIT intervention has been designed to improve students’ health and well-being by using high-intensity activities in classes delivered by teachers who have been trained to be autonomy needs supportive. If successful, scalable

  19. The Teacher Strike: School District Protection Procedures. A Manual for School District Officials on How to Handle a Teachers' Strike.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Igoe, Joseph A.; DiRocco, Anthony P.

    This booklet is designed to give practical and realistic advice to school district officials faced with the possibility of a teachers' strike. It is intended for use both by school district administrators and school board members. The booklet is organized into four sections that focus in turn on signs of a pending teachers' strike, union…

  20. Stabilization of Overweight and Obesity in Slovenian Adolescents and Increased Risk in Those Entering Non-Grammar Secondary Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sedej, Katarina; Lusa, Lara; Battelino, Tadej; Kotnik, Primoz

    2016-01-01

    To estimate overweight and obesity prevalence trends in Slovenian adolescents entering secondary schools in the years 2004, 2009 and 2014 and differences in the prevalence between different types of secondary schools. Data from 17,538 adolescents entering secondary schools (mean age ± standard deviation 15.4 ± 0.5 years) collected during obligatory medical examination in years 2004, 2009 and 2014 was analyzed. Overweight and obesity were defined using International Obesity Task Force criteria. In 2004-2009 overweight and obesity prevalence increased, especially in males and stabilized thereafter (2009-2014) in both genders. It was significantly higher (p schools (2009; 28.7 vs. 16.8% overweight females and 31.6 vs. 22.3% overweight males; 2014: 29.7 vs. 17.9% overweight females and 33.6 vs. 20.4% overweight males). Overweight and obesity prevalence in Slovenian adolescents entering secondary schools stabilized recently. Adolescents attending secondary vocational and technical/professional schools are at an increased risk of overweight and obesity. © 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

  1. [Treatment goals in FACE philosophy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Domingo; Maté, Amaia; Zabalegui, Paula; Valenzuela, Jaime

    2017-03-01

    The FACE philosophy is characterized by clearly defined treatment goals: facial esthetics, dental esthetics, periodontal health, functional occlusion, neuromuscular mechanism and joint function. The purpose is to establish ideal occlusion with good facial esthetics and an orthopedic stable joint position. The authors present all the concepts of FACE philosophy and illustrate them through one case report. Taking into account all the FACE philosophy concepts increases diagnostic ability and improves the quality and stability of treatment outcomes. The goal of this philosophy is to harmonize the facial profile, tooth alignment, periodontium, functional occlusion, neuromuscular mechanism and joint function. The evaluation and treatment approach to vertical problems are unique to the philosophy. © EDP Sciences, SFODF, 2017.

  2. Increasing Career Self-Efficacy through Group Work with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitcham, Michelle; Greenidge, Wendy-lou; Bradham-Cousar, Michelle; Figliozzi, Jennifer; Thompson, Mary Ann

    2012-01-01

    Group counseling is a practical way for school counselors to deliver career services. School counselors face competing demands on their time coupled with the problematic student to counselor ratios that often exist in schools, group counseling thereby offers a pragmatic solution. This article provides implications for implementing group counseling…

  3. The influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness: no own-age or own-sex advantage among children attending single-sex schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vingilis-Jaremko, Larissa; Maurer, Daphne; Gao, Xiaoqing

    2014-04-01

    We examined how recent biased face experience affects the influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness among 8- and 9-year-old children attending a girls' school, a boys' school, and a mixed-sex school. We presented pairs of individual faces in which one face was transformed 50% toward its group average, whereas the other face was transformed 50% away from that average. Across blocks, the faces varied in age (adult, 9-year-old, or 5-year-old) and sex (male or female). We expected that averageness might influence attractiveness judgments more strongly for same-age faces and, for children attending single-sex schools, same-sex faces of that age because their prototype(s) should be best tuned to the faces they see most frequently. Averageness influenced children's judgments of attractiveness, but the strength of the influence was not modulated by the age of the face, nor did the effects of sex of face differ across schools. Recent biased experience might not have affected the results because of similarities between the average faces of different ages and sexes and/or because a minimum level of experience with a particular group of faces may be adequate for the formation of a veridical prototype and its influence on judgments of attractiveness. The results suggest that averageness affects children's judgments of the attractiveness of the faces they encounter in everyday life regardless of age or sex of face. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Career Counselling with Secondary School-Aged Youth: Directions for Theory, Research, and Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, J. C.

    2009-01-01

    In the midst of an information age and a global economy, people around the world continue to face significant inequities at school and in the workforce. Career counselling thus finds itself in a paradigm shift that increasingly stresses the influences of culture and sociopolitical context. One area in which the profession can advance a social…

  5. A randomised controlled trial of face to face versus pure online self-help cognitive behavioural treatment for perfectionism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Egan, Sarah J; van Noort, Emily; Chee, Abby; Kane, Robert T; Hoiles, Kimberley J; Shafran, Roz; Wade, Tracey D

    2014-12-01

    Previous research has shown cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) to be effective in reducing perfectionism. The present study investigated the efficacy of two formats of CBT for perfectionism (CBT-P), face-to-face and pure online self-help, in reducing perfectionism and associated psychological symptoms. Participants were randomly allocated to face-to-face CBT-P (n = 18), pure online self-help CBT-P (n = 16), or a waitlist control period (n = 18). There was no significant change for the waitlist group on any of the outcome measures at the end of treatment. Both the face-to-face and pure online self-help groups reported significant reductions at the end of treatment for the perfectionism variables which were maintained at the 6-month follow-up. The face-to-face group also reported significant reductions over this time in depression, anxiety, and stress, and a significant pre-post increase in self-esteem, all of which were maintained at the 6-month follow-up. In contrast, the pure online self-help group showed no significant changes on these outcomes. The face-to-face group was statistically superior to the pure online self-help group at follow-up on the perfectionism measures, concern over mistakes and personal standards. The results show promising evidence for CBT for perfectionism, especially when offered face to face, where sustained benefit across a broad range of outcomes can be expected. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. No Longer "Catholic, White and Gaelic": Schools in Ireland Coming to Terms with Cultural Diversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker-Jenkins, Marie; Masterson, Mary

    2013-01-01

    Irish society has experienced unprecedented demographic change since the turn of the twenty-first century, and increasingly, educators are facing the prospect of having to respond to the changing nature of cultural diversity in their classrooms. Traditionally characterised as"Catholic, white and Gaelic", Irish schools are said to be…

  7. BLENDED LEARNING: STUDENT PERCEPTION OF FACE-TO-FACE AND ONLINE EFL LESSONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brenda M. Wright

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available With the ever-increasing development of technology, online teaching is more readily accepted as a viable component in teaching and learning, and blended learning, the combining of online and face-to-face learning, is becoming commonplace in many higher education institutions. Blended learning is, particularly in developing countries, in its early stages and not without its challenges. Asynchronous online lessons are currently still more prevalent in many areas of South-East Asia, perhaps due to potential difficulty in obtaining strong Internet connections, which may deter educators from synchronous options. Technological media have the potential to broaden the scope of resources available in teaching and to enhance the language learning experience. Although research to date shows some focus on blended learning, literature on distance online teaching seems more prevalent. This study exposed 112 Malaysian undergraduate EFL students' responses to an online lesson as part of an English grammar course, and investigates common student perceptions of the online lesson as compared with face-to-face lessons. Questionnaires using qualitative (Likert scale questions and quantitative (open-ended questions approaches provided data for content analysis to determine common student perceptions, with particular reference to motivation and interest. In general, more students associated in-class lessons with higher motivation and more interest, due to better understanding, valued classroom interaction with the lecturer and peers, and input from the lecturer. Students preferring the online lesson cited speed and convenience of study and flexibility of time and place of study as reasons for their choice. Skilful implementation of online lessons can enhance a language course but should not undermine the value of face-to-face instruction with EFL teachers.

  8. Fresh Kids: the efficacy of a Health Promoting Schools approach to increasing consumption of fruit and water in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laurence, S; Peterken, R; Burns, C

    2007-09-01

    The Fresh Kids programme utilized the Health Promoting Schools (HPSs) framework to design a whole-of-school, multifaceted intervention targeting specific behaviours to promote healthy eating and reduce the risk factors associated with childhood obesity. The aim of the programme was to evaluate the effectiveness of the HPS framework to increase fruit and water consumption among primary school-aged children over a 2-year period. The study design was an interrupted time series. Four primary schools in the inner west of Melbourne, Australia, participated in the programme intervention. Baseline data were collected using a lunch box audit to assess the frequency of children with fresh fruit, water and sweet drinks, either brought from home or selected from canteen lunch orders. The lunch box audit was repeated periodically for up to 2 years following programme implementation to assess the sustainability of dietary changes. Across all participating schools, significant increases between 25 and 50% were observed in the proportion of children bringing fresh fruit. Similarly, all schools recorded increases between 15 and 60% in the proportion of students bringing filled water bottles to school and reductions between 8 and 38% in the proportion of children bringing sweet drinks. These significant changes in dietary patterns were sustained for up to 2 years following programme implementation. Targeting key nutrition behaviours and using the HPS framework is an effective and simple approach which could be readily implemented in similar childhood settings. Effective strategies include facilitating organizational change within the school; integrating curriculum activities; formalizing school policy and establishing project partnerships with local community nutrition and dietetic services.

  9. Increasing children's physical activity levels during recess periods in elementary schools: the effects of providing game equipment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verstraete, Stefanie J M; Cardon, Greet M; De Clercq, Dirk L R; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse M M

    2006-08-01

    During recess, children can be active on a daily basis, making it an important school environmental factor for the promotion of health-related physical activity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of providing game equipment on children's physical activity levels during morning recess and lunch break in elementary schools. Seven elementary schools were randomly assigned to the intervention group (four schools), including 122 children (75 boys, 47 girls, mean age: 10.8 +/- 0.6 years), and to the control group (three schools), including 113 children (46 boys, 67 girls, mean age: 10.9 +/- 0.7 years). Children's activity levels were measured before and three months after providing game equipment, using MTI accelerometers. During lunch break, children's moderate and vigorous physical activity significantly increased in the intervention group (moderate: from 38 to 50%, vigorous: from 10 to 11%), while it decreased in the control group (moderate: from 44 to 39%, vigorous: from 11 to 5%). At morning recess, providing game equipment was effective in increasing children's moderate physical activity (from 41 to 45%), while it decreased in the control group (from 41 to 34%). Providing game equipment during recess periods was found to be effective in increasing children's physical activity levels. This finding suggests that promoting physical activity through game equipment provision during recess periods can contribute to reach the daily activity levels recommended for good health.

  10. Vic: The Challenges Facing Schools in a Small, Newly Diverse, Catalan City

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simo, Nuria; Telford, Jon

    2012-01-01

    The arrival over the last 15 years of a substantial number of pupils of immigrant origin has presented Catalan schools with significant challenges. The schools in Vic (70 km north of Barcelona) have been at the forefront of attempts to adjust to this new multicultural reality. This article describes the results of three studies carried out by the…

  11. Face time: educating face transplant candidates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamparello, Brooke M; Bueno, Ericka M; Diaz-Siso, Jesus Rodrigo; Sisk, Geoffroy C; Pomahac, Bohdan

    2013-01-01

    Face transplantation is the innovative application of microsurgery and immunology to restore appearance and function to those with severe facial disfigurements. Our group aims to establish a multidisciplinary education program that can facilitate informed consent and build a strong knowledge base in patients to enhance adherence to medication regimes, recovery, and quality of life. We analyzed handbooks from our institution's solid organ transplant programs to identify topics applicable to face transplant patients. The team identified unique features of face transplantation that warrant comprehensive patient education. We created a 181-page handbook to provide subjects interested in pursuing transplantation with a written source of information on the process and team members and to address concerns they may have. While the handbook covers a wide range of topics, it is easy to understand and visually appealing. Face transplantation has many unique aspects that must be relayed to the patients pursuing this novel therapy. Since candidates lack third-party support groups and programs, the transplant team must provide an extensive educational component to enhance this complex process. As face transplantation continues to develop, programs must create sound education programs that address patients' needs and concerns to facilitate optimal care.

  12. A Viola-Jones based hybrid face detection framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Thomas M.; Broussard, Randy; Schultz, Robert; Rakvic, Ryan; Ngo, Hau

    2013-12-01

    Improvements in face detection performance would benefit many applications. The OpenCV library implements a standard solution, the Viola-Jones detector, with a statistically boosted rejection cascade of binary classifiers. Empirical evidence has shown that Viola-Jones underdetects in some instances. This research shows that a truncated cascade augmented by a neural network could recover these undetected faces. A hybrid framework is constructed, with a truncated Viola-Jones cascade followed by an artificial neural network, used to refine the face decision. Optimally, a truncation stage that captured all faces and allowed the neural network to remove the false alarms is selected. A feedforward backpropagation network with one hidden layer is trained to discriminate faces based upon the thresholding (detection) values of intermediate stages of the full rejection cascade. A clustering algorithm is used as a precursor to the neural network, to group significant overlappings. Evaluated on the CMU/VASC Image Database, comparison with an unmodified OpenCV approach shows: (1) a 37% increase in detection rates if constrained by the requirement of no increase in false alarms, (2) a 48% increase in detection rates if some additional false alarms are tolerated, and (3) an 82% reduction in false alarms with no reduction in detection rates. These results demonstrate improved face detection and could address the need for such improvement in various applications.

  13. Smoking Prevalence Among Mugla School of Health Sciences Students and Causes of Leading Increase in Smoking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Metin Picakciefe

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine the smoking prevalence among Mugla School of Health Sciences students, to determine the effects the increasing causes of smoking and their education about adverse health outcome of smoking. A cross-sectional study was performed among Mugla School of Health Sciences students in Mugla University. All students (417 in Mugla School of Health Sciences included in the study. The participation rates was 85.1%. Data were obtained by the self-administered questionnaire without teachers in classes. SPSS 11.0 was used for data analysis, and the differentiation was assessed by Chi-square analysis. P < 0.05 was accepted statistically significant. The prevalence of current smokers was 25.3% among students in Mugla School of Health Sciences. The students stated that the most important factor of smoking initiation was stress (59.2%. The univariable analysis showed that the friends’ smoking (p: 0.000 , having knowledge about smoking habits of teachers (p: 0.020 , alcohol consumption (p: 0.000, and other smokers out of parent in the home (p: 0.000 was significantly associated with increasing rate of smoking prevalence. The smoking prevalence was quite high (25.3% among Mugla School of Health Sciences students in Mugla University. It is needed to decreasing smoking prevalence among students that antismoking education should be reevaluated, that antismoking campaign should be administered in schools. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2007; 6(4.000: 267-272

  14. Differences in the Pattern of Hemodynamic Response to Self-Face and Stranger-Face Images in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa: A Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takeshi Inoue

    Full Text Available There have been no reports concerning the self-face perception in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN. The purpose of this study was to compare the neuronal correlates of viewing self-face images (i.e. images of familiar face and stranger-face images (i.e. images of an unfamiliar face in female adolescents with and without AN. We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS to measure hemodynamic responses while the participants viewed full-color photographs of self-face and stranger-face. Fifteen females with AN (mean age, 13.8 years and 15 age- and intelligence quotient (IQ-matched female controls without AN (mean age, 13.1 years participated in the study. The responses to photographs were compared with the baseline activation (response to white uniform blank. In the AN group, the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb significantly increased in the right temporal area during the presentation of both the self-face and stranger-face images compared with the baseline level. In contrast, in the control group, the concentration of oxy-Hb significantly increased in the right temporal area only during the presentation of the self-face image. To our knowledge the present study is the first report to assess brain activities during self-face and stranger-face perception among female adolescents with AN. There were different patterns of brain activation in response to the sight of the self-face and stranger-face images in female adolescents with AN and controls.

  15. Differences in the Pattern of Hemodynamic Response to Self-Face and Stranger-Face Images in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa: A Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inoue, Takeshi; Sakuta, Yuiko; Shimamura, Keiichi; Ichikawa, Hiroko; Kobayashi, Megumi; Otani, Ryoko; Yamaguchi, Masami K; Kanazawa, So; Kakigi, Ryusuke; Sakuta, Ryoichi

    2015-01-01

    There have been no reports concerning the self-face perception in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). The purpose of this study was to compare the neuronal correlates of viewing self-face images (i.e. images of familiar face) and stranger-face images (i.e. images of an unfamiliar face) in female adolescents with and without AN. We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure hemodynamic responses while the participants viewed full-color photographs of self-face and stranger-face. Fifteen females with AN (mean age, 13.8 years) and 15 age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched female controls without AN (mean age, 13.1 years) participated in the study. The responses to photographs were compared with the baseline activation (response to white uniform blank). In the AN group, the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) significantly increased in the right temporal area during the presentation of both the self-face and stranger-face images compared with the baseline level. In contrast, in the control group, the concentration of oxy-Hb significantly increased in the right temporal area only during the presentation of the self-face image. To our knowledge the present study is the first report to assess brain activities during self-face and stranger-face perception among female adolescents with AN. There were different patterns of brain activation in response to the sight of the self-face and stranger-face images in female adolescents with AN and controls.

  16. Obstacles of Teaching Mathematics Faced by the Class Teachers in Jordan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nejem, Khamis Mousa; Muhanna, Waffa

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the study is to investigate the obstacles of teaching mathematics faced by the class teachers in Jordan. To achieve this purpose a study sample of 192 male and female class teachers was selected randomly from government schools. The instrument of the study was a questionnaire used to investigate the obstacles of mathematics…

  17. Did School Finance Equalization Increase Revenue Instability for School Districts?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balu, Rekha

    2011-01-01

    This study uses an Interrupted Time Series analysis with a non-equivalent comparison group to estimate the causal effect of school finance equalization on district revenue instability. The author applies a microeconomic framework to an understudied problem in education finance and policy. In so doing, she illustrates how policies can sometimes…

  18. From face processing to face recognition: Comparing three different processing levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Besson, G; Barragan-Jason, G; Thorpe, S J; Fabre-Thorpe, M; Puma, S; Ceccaldi, M; Barbeau, E J

    2017-01-01

    Verifying that a face is from a target person (e.g. finding someone in the crowd) is a critical ability of the human face processing system. Yet how fast this can be performed is unknown. The 'entry-level shift due to expertise' hypothesis suggests that - since humans are face experts - processing faces should be as fast - or even faster - at the individual than at superordinate levels. In contrast, the 'superordinate advantage' hypothesis suggests that faces are processed from coarse to fine, so that the opposite pattern should be observed. To clarify this debate, three different face processing levels were compared: (1) a superordinate face categorization level (i.e. detecting human faces among animal faces), (2) a face familiarity level (i.e. recognizing famous faces among unfamiliar ones) and (3) verifying that a face is from a target person, our condition of interest. The minimal speed at which faces can be categorized (∼260ms) or recognized as familiar (∼360ms) has largely been documented in previous studies, and thus provides boundaries to compare our condition of interest to. Twenty-seven participants were included. The recent Speed and Accuracy Boosting procedure paradigm (SAB) was used since it constrains participants to use their fastest strategy. Stimuli were presented either upright or inverted. Results revealed that verifying that a face is from a target person (minimal RT at ∼260ms) was remarkably fast but longer than the face categorization level (∼240ms) and was more sensitive to face inversion. In contrast, it was much faster than recognizing a face as familiar (∼380ms), a level severely affected by face inversion. Face recognition corresponding to finding a specific person in a crowd thus appears achievable in only a quarter of a second. In favor of the 'superordinate advantage' hypothesis or coarse-to-fine account of the face visual hierarchy, these results suggest a graded engagement of the face processing system across processing

  19. A multimedia educational program that increases science achievement among inner-city non-Asian minority middle-school students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Nancy G; Opuni, Kwame A; Reininger, Belinda; Sessions, Nathalie; Mowry, Melanie M; Hobbs, Mary

    2009-06-01

    To test the effectiveness of a middle school, multimedia health sciences educational program called HEADS UP in non-Asian-minority (Hispanic and African American), inner-city students. The program designers hope to increase the number of these students entering the health sciences pipeline. The program includes video role-model stories featuring minority scientists and students, hands-on activities, and teacher resources. Collaborators from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Spring Branch Independent School District, and the Health Museum developed the modules. From 2004 to 2007, the authors used a quasi-experimental, two-group pretest/posttest design to assess program effects on students' performance and interest in science, their science self-efficacy, their fear of science, and their science-related careers self-efficacy. An independent third party matched the intervention school to a comparison school by test scores, school demographics, and student demographics and then matched pairs of sixth-grade students (N = 428) by fifth-grade science scores, gender, ethnicity, and participation in the free or reduced lunch program. The authors collected data on these students for three years. At eighth grade (2007), the intervention school students scored significantly higher (F = 12.38, P science and reported higher interest in science (F = 11.08, P school pairs. Students in neither group reported an increase in their confidence to choose a science-related career, but students in one high-implementing teacher's class reported decreased fear of science. HEADS UP shows potential for improving inner-city, non-Asian-minority middle school students' performance and interest in science.

  20. Bayesian Face Recognition and Perceptual Narrowing in Face-Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balas, Benjamin

    2012-01-01

    During the first year of life, infants' face recognition abilities are subject to "perceptual narrowing", the end result of which is that observers lose the ability to distinguish previously discriminable faces (e.g. other-race faces) from one another. Perceptual narrowing has been reported for faces of different species and different races, in…

  1. Non-exposure parenting increases risk of bullying behavior in junior high school students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Surilena Hasan

    2016-05-01

    Non-exposure parenting was the most relevant risk factor of bullying behavior. Low self-esteem increases the risk of bullying behavior. These findings suggest the need of timely bullying prevention and intervention programs that should have a special focus on families of primary high school students.

  2. Effectiveness and implementation of interventions to increase commuter cycling to school

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Østergaard, Lars; Støckel, Jan Toftegaard; Andersen, Lars Bo

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Active transportation to school has been positively associated with various health parameters whereas only sparse evidence exists on risk of injury while commuting to school. This study investigated the overall effectiveness of cycling promotion combined with structural changes...... on cycling to school. METHODS: Interventions at public schools in three different regions in Denmark were based on planned infrastructural changes near schools (e.g. road surface and traffic regulation) and school-motivation for promoting commuter cycling. Participants were pupils from control schools (n...... = 12) or intervention schools (n = 13). All children (n = 2415) from the 4(th) and 5(th) grade were measured at baseline during spring 2010 and at follow-up one year later. RESULTS: No significant differences in commuter cycling were detected in the adjusted analyses comparing the intervention...

  3. Face recognition : implementation of face recognition on AMIGO

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Geelen, M.J.A.J.; Molengraft, van de M.J.G.; Elfring, J.

    2011-01-01

    In this (traineeship)report two possible methods of face recognition were presented. The first method describes how to detect and recognize faces by using the SURF algorithm. This algorithm finally was not used for recognizing faces, with the reason that the Eigenface algorithm was an already tested

  4. In the Face of Anti-LGBQ Behaviour: Saskatchewan High School Students' Perceptions of School Climate and Consequential Impact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, Melanie A.; Jewell, Lisa; McCutcheon, Jessica; Cochrane, Donald B.

    2014-01-01

    In Canada, there is a dearth of research on school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) students. Using social networking, 60 students from high schools in Saskatchewan participated in a climate survey. Results indicated that anti-LGBQ speech was widespread, as were other forms of harassment. The more victimization that was…

  5. Autistic traits and brain activation during face-to-face conversations in typically developed adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suda, Masashi; Takei, Yuichi; Aoyama, Yoshiyuki; Narita, Kosuke; Sakurai, Noriko; Fukuda, Masato; Mikuni, Masahiko

    2011-01-01

    Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviours. The severity of these characteristics is posited to lie on a continuum that extends into the general population. Brain substrates underlying ASD have been investigated through functional neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, fMRI has methodological constraints for studying brain mechanisms during social interactions (for example, noise, lying on a gantry during the procedure, etc.). In this study, we investigated whether variations in autism spectrum traits are associated with changes in patterns of brain activation in typically developed adults. We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a recently developed functional neuroimaging technique that uses near-infrared light, to monitor brain activation in a natural setting that is suitable for studying brain functions during social interactions. We monitored regional cerebral blood volume changes using a 52-channel NIRS apparatus over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior temporal sulcus (STS), 2 areas implicated in social cognition and the pathology of ASD, in 28 typically developed participants (14 male and 14 female) during face-to-face conversations. This task was designed to resemble a realistic social situation. We examined the correlations of these changes with autistic traits assessed using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Both the PFC and STS were significantly activated during face-to-face conversations. AQ scores were negatively correlated with regional cerebral blood volume increases in the left STS during face-to-face conversations, especially in males. Our results demonstrate successful monitoring of brain function during realistic social interactions by NIRS as well as lesser brain activation in the left STS during face-to-face conversations in typically developed participants with higher levels of autistic

  6. The complex duration perception of emotional faces: Effects of face direction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katrin Martina Kliegl

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The perceived duration of emotional face stimuli strongly depends on the expressed emotion. But, emotional faces also differ regarding a number of other features like gaze, face direction, or sex. Usually, these features have been controlled by only using pictures of female models with straight gaze and face direction. Doi and Shinohara (2009 reported that an overestimation of angry faces could only be found when the model’s gaze was oriented towards the observer. We aimed at replicating this effect for face direction. Moreover, we explored the effect of face direction on the duration perception sad faces. Controlling for the sex of the face model and the participant, female and male participants rated the duration of neutral, angry and sad face stimuli of both sexes photographed from different perspectives in a bisection task. In line with current findings, we report a significant overestimation of angry compared to neutral face stimuli that was modulated by face direction. Moreover, the perceived duration of sad face stimuli did not differ from that of neutral faces and was not influenced by face direction. Furthermore, we found that faces of the opposite sex appeared to last longer than those of the same sex. This outcome is discussed with regards to stimulus parameters like the induced arousal, social relevance and an evolutionary context.

  7. Assessing School Leadership Challenges in Ghana Using Leadership Practices Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Alexander Kyei; Aboagye, Samuel Kwadwo

    2015-01-01

    The Ghana Education Service (GES) is facing challenges in school leadership and hence a lot of criticisms on basic school performances. The issue is whether school leadership relates to school performances and that there is the need for transformation leadership. The purpose of this study was to discuss self-reported leadership practices…

  8. Age-related differences in brain electrical activity during extended continuous face recognition in younger children, older children and adults

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.W. van Strien (Jan); J.C. Glimmerveen (Johanna C.); I.H.A. Franken (Ingmar); V.E. Martens (Vanessa E.G.); E.A. de Bruin (Eveline)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractTo examine the development of recognition memory in primary-school children, 36 healthy younger children (8-9years old) and 36 healthy older children (11-12years old) participated in an ERP study with an extended continuous face recognition task (Study 1). Each face of a series of 30

  9. DISCOURSE AND PARTICIPATION IN ESL FACE-TO-FACE AND WRITTEN ELECTRONIC CONFERENCES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Fitze

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was a comparative investigation of face-to-face and written electronic conferences. The participants were advanced English as a second language (hereafter: ESL students. The two types of conferences were compared in terms of textual features and participation. There was no statistically significant difference in the total number of words that students produced in an equivalent amount of time in the two types of conferences. The discourse in written electronic conferences displayed greater lexical range, and students in these conferences produced more discourse demonstrating interactive competence. The statistically significant finding of increased lexical range in written electronic conferences persisted even when the interactive discourse was eliminated from the conference transcripts and the transcripts were reanalyzed. This finding suggests that, during written electronic conferences, students were better able to use and practice a wider range of vocabulary related to the topics. For one of the groups, participation in written electronic conferences was more balanced among students, while for the other group participation was about equally balanced regardless of the conference setting. This last finding came as a surprise and points to a need for further research into variables that might mediate balanced participation in face-to-face and written electronic conferences.

  10. Measurement and visualization of face-to-face interaction among community-dwelling older adults using wearable sensors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masumoto, Kouhei; Yaguchi, Takaharu; Matsuda, Hiroshi; Tani, Hideaki; Tozuka, Keisuke; Kondo, Narihiko; Okada, Shuichi

    2017-10-01

    A number of interventions have been undertaken to develop and promote social networks among community-dwelling older adults. However, it has been difficult to examine the effects of these interventions, because of problems in assessing interactions. The present study was designed to quantitatively measure and visualize face-to-face interactions among elderly participants in an exercise program. We also examined relationships among interactional variables, personality and interest in community involvement, including interactions with the local community. Older adults living in the same community were recruited to participate in an exercise program that consisted of four sessions. We collected data on face-to-face interactions of the participants by using a wearable sensor technology device. Network analysis identified the communication networks of participants in the exercise program, as well as changes in these networks. Additionally, there were significant correlations between the number of people involved in face-to-face interactions and changes in both interest in community involvement and interactions with local community residents, as well as personality traits, including agreeableness. Social networks in the community are essential for solving problems caused by the aging society. We showed the possible applications of face-to-face interactional data for identifying core participants having many interactions, and isolated participants having only a few interactions within the community. Such data would be useful for carrying out efficient interventions for increasing participants' involvement with their community. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1752-1758. © 2017 Japan Geriatrics Society.

  11. Effectiveness of Supervisions Conducted by Primary Education Supervisors According to School Principals' Evaluations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yavuz, Mustafa

    2010-01-01

    The author conducted a qualitative case study. The population of the study consisted of 8 randomly selected school principals in the area of primary education supervisors working in Konya, a province of the Turkish Republic. Face-to-face and semistructured interviews were held with the school principals within the population for 90 min. The…

  12. Meeting the Needs of Children and Families: Opportunities and Challenges for School Psychology Training Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curtis, Michael J.; Batsche, George M.

    1991-01-01

    Notes that graduate training programs face challenges, as well as opportunities, in fulfillment of their responsibilities to prepare school psychologists for entry into professional practice. Examines nature and origins of potential changes facing school psychology and discusses adequacy of current training programs. Discusses future implications…

  13. A causal relationship between face-patch activity and face-detection behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadagopan, Srivatsun; Zarco, Wilbert; Freiwald, Winrich A

    2017-04-04

    The primate brain contains distinct areas densely populated by face-selective neurons. One of these, face-patch ML, contains neurons selective for contrast relationships between face parts. Such contrast-relationships can serve as powerful heuristics for face detection. However, it is unknown whether neurons with such selectivity actually support face-detection behavior. Here, we devised a naturalistic face-detection task and combined it with fMRI-guided pharmacological inactivation of ML to test whether ML is of critical importance for real-world face detection. We found that inactivation of ML impairs face detection. The effect was anatomically specific, as inactivation of areas outside ML did not affect face detection, and it was categorically specific, as inactivation of ML impaired face detection while sparing body and object detection. These results establish that ML function is crucial for detection of faces in natural scenes, performing a critical first step on which other face processing operations can build.

  14. Zero Energy With an Affordable Price Tag: Friends School of Portland

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Torcellini, Paul A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2017-08-09

    More than half of all operating school districts in the U.S. are in rural areas. These small schools operate at a different scale and have different needs than their city counterparts. In 2003-2004, 20% of public schools in the U.S. served fewer than 200 students(1). Although the Friends School of Portland - which was designed to achieve both zero energy performance and Passivhaus certification - is an independent school, it faced financial constraints similar to those faced by many other small schools throughout the country. The project was financed through a capital campaign and a mortgage that forced a hard cost cap on the project, so the project team had to be diligent about every dollar that was spent. In its first year of operation, the school site energy use intensity was just 12 kbtu/ft2, a bit more than the 9 kbtu/ft2 predicted.

  15. The changing face of britain -images and reality-

    OpenAIRE

    John,Herbert

    2012-01-01

    There are many famous images of Britain held by people in Japan. Those images can be wide-ranging, influenced by tourist trips to Britain, television programs or school textbooks. Some of the populer images include things such as Royal weddings and "kiri on London" (foggy London). However, are these images truly representative of modern Britain? Other cultures, inbluding Japan, are changing the face of Britain in many ways. This lecture shows how Britain is changing, and ezamines some of the ...

  16. Face-to-face versus remote and web 2.0 interventions for promoting physical activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Justin; Thorogood, Margaret; Hillsdon, Melvyn; Foster, Charles

    2013-09-30

    for PA, quality of life, or cost effectiveness. The difference between the remote and web 2.0 versus face-to-face arms was not significant (SMD -0.02; 95% CI -0.30 to 0.26; high quality evidence). The risk of bias in the included study was assessed as low, and there was no evidence of an increased risk of adverse events. There is insufficient evidence to assess whether face-to-face interventions or remote and web 2.0 approaches are more effective at promoting PA.

  17. Association of a Behaviorally Based High School Health Education Curriculum with Increased Exercise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annesi, James J.; Trinity, John; Mareno, Nicole; Walsh, Stephanie M.

    2015-01-01

    Increasing exercise in children and adolescents through academic classes is an understudied area. Potential benefits include associated improvements in health, psychosocial, and quality-of-life factors. A sample of 98 students (M[subscript age] = 14.3) from high school health education classes received six, 40-min lessons incorporating…

  18. An equivalence study of interview platform: Does videoconference technology impact medical school acceptance rates of different groups?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballejos, Marlene P; Oglesbee, Scott; Hettema, Jennifer; Sapien, Robert

    2018-02-14

    Web-based interviewing may be an effective element of a medical school's larger approach to promotion of holistic review, as recommended by the Association of American Medical Colleges, by facilitating the feasibility of including rural and community physicians in the interview process. Only 10% of medical schools offer videoconference interviews to applicants and little is known about the impact of this interview modality on the admissions process. This study investigated the impact of overall acceptance rates using videoconference interviews and face-to-face interviews in the medical school selection process using an equivalence trial design. The University of New Mexico School of Medicine integrated a videoconferencing interview option for community and rural physician interviewers in a pseudo-random fashion during the 2014-2016 admissions cycles. Logistic regression was conducted to examine whether videoconference interviews impacted acceptance rates or the characteristics of accepted students. Demographic, admissions and diversity factors were analyzed that included applicant age, MCAT score, cumulative GPA, gender, underrepresented in medicine, socioeconomic status and geographic residency. Data from 752 interviews were analyzed. Adjusted rates of acceptance for face-to-face (37.0%; 95% CI 28.2, 46.7%) and videoconference (36.1%; 95% CI 17.8, 59.5%) interviews were within an a priori ± 5% margin of equivalence. Both interview conditions yielded highly diverse groups of admitted students. Having a higher medical college admission test score, grade point average, and self-identifying as disadvantaged increased odds of admission in both interview modalities. Integration of the videoconference interview did not impact the overall acceptance of a highly diverse and qualified group of applicants, and allowed rural and community physicians to participate in the medical school interview process as well as allowed campus faculty and medical student committee members

  19. Human versus Non-Human Face Processing: Evidence from Williams Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Andreia; Rosset, Delphine; Deruelle, Christine

    2009-01-01

    Increased motivation towards social stimuli in Williams syndrome (WS) led us to hypothesize that a face's human status would have greater impact than face's orientation on WS' face processing abilities. Twenty-nine individuals with WS were asked to categorize facial emotion expressions in real, human cartoon and non-human cartoon faces presented…

  20. Withholding response to self-face is faster than to other-face.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Min; Hu, Yinying; Tang, Xiaochen; Luo, Junlong; Gao, Xiangping

    2015-01-01

    Self-face advantage refers to adults' response to self-face is faster than that to other-face. A stop-signal task was used to explore how self-face advantage interacted with response inhibition. The results showed that reaction times of self-face were faster than that of other-face not in the go task but in the stop response trials. The novelty of the finding was that self-face has shorter stop-signal reaction time compared to other-face in the successful inhibition trials. These results indicated the processing mechanism of self-face may be characterized by a strong response tendency and a corresponding strong inhibition control.

  1. Blending online techniques with traditional face to face teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology learning content

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Howlett, David, E-mail: david.howlett@esht.nhs.uk [Department of Radiology, Eastbourne District General Hospital, Kings Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 2UD (United Kingdom); Vincent, Tim [Department of IT, Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) (United Kingdom); Watson, Gillian; Owens, Emma [Department of Radiology, Eastbourne District General Hospital, Kings Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 2UD (United Kingdom); Webb, Richard; Gainsborough, Nicola [Department of Medicine, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton (United Kingdom); Fairclough, Jil [Department of IT, Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) (United Kingdom); Taylor, Nick [Department of Medical Illustration, Eastbourne District General Hospital (United Kingdom); Miles, Ken [Department of Imaging, BSMS (United Kingdom); Cohen, Jon [Department of Infectious Diseases, BSMS (United Kingdom); Vincent, Richard [Department of Cardiology, BSMS (United Kingdom)

    2011-06-15

    Aim: To review the initial experience of blending a variety of online educational techniques with traditional face to face or contact-based teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology content at a UK Medical School. Materials and methods: The Brighton and Sussex Medical School opened in 2003 and offers a 5-year undergraduate programme, with the final 5 spent in several regional centres. Year 5 involves several core clinical specialities with onsite radiology teaching provided at regional centres in the form of small-group tutorials, imaging seminars and also a one-day course. An online educational module was introduced in 2007 to facilitate equitable delivery of the year 5 curriculum between the regional centres and to support students on placement. This module had a strong radiological emphasis, with a combination of imaging integrated into clinical cases to reflect everyday practice and also dedicated radiology cases. For the second cohort of year 5 students in 2008 two additional online media-rich initiatives were introduced, to complement the online module, comprising imaging tutorials and an online case discussion room. Results: In the first year for the 2007/2008 cohort, 490 cases were written, edited and delivered via the Medical School managed learning environment as part of the online module. 253 cases contained a form of image media, of which 195 cases had a radiological component with a total of 325 radiology images. Important aspects of radiology practice (e.g. consent, patient safety, contrast toxicity, ionising radiation) were also covered. There were 274,000 student hits on cases the first year, with students completing a mean of 169 cases each. High levels of student satisfaction were recorded in relation to the online module and also additional online radiology teaching initiatives. Conclusion: Online educational techniques can be effectively blended with other forms of teaching to allow successful undergraduate delivery of

  2. Blending online techniques with traditional face to face teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology learning content

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howlett, David; Vincent, Tim; Watson, Gillian; Owens, Emma; Webb, Richard; Gainsborough, Nicola; Fairclough, Jil; Taylor, Nick; Miles, Ken; Cohen, Jon; Vincent, Richard

    2011-01-01

    Aim: To review the initial experience of blending a variety of online educational techniques with traditional face to face or contact-based teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology content at a UK Medical School. Materials and methods: The Brighton and Sussex Medical School opened in 2003 and offers a 5-year undergraduate programme, with the final 5 spent in several regional centres. Year 5 involves several core clinical specialities with onsite radiology teaching provided at regional centres in the form of small-group tutorials, imaging seminars and also a one-day course. An online educational module was introduced in 2007 to facilitate equitable delivery of the year 5 curriculum between the regional centres and to support students on placement. This module had a strong radiological emphasis, with a combination of imaging integrated into clinical cases to reflect everyday practice and also dedicated radiology cases. For the second cohort of year 5 students in 2008 two additional online media-rich initiatives were introduced, to complement the online module, comprising imaging tutorials and an online case discussion room. Results: In the first year for the 2007/2008 cohort, 490 cases were written, edited and delivered via the Medical School managed learning environment as part of the online module. 253 cases contained a form of image media, of which 195 cases had a radiological component with a total of 325 radiology images. Important aspects of radiology practice (e.g. consent, patient safety, contrast toxicity, ionising radiation) were also covered. There were 274,000 student hits on cases the first year, with students completing a mean of 169 cases each. High levels of student satisfaction were recorded in relation to the online module and also additional online radiology teaching initiatives. Conclusion: Online educational techniques can be effectively blended with other forms of teaching to allow successful undergraduate delivery of

  3. Blending online techniques with traditional face to face teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology learning content.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howlett, David; Vincent, Tim; Watson, Gillian; Owens, Emma; Webb, Richard; Gainsborough, Nicola; Fairclough, Jil; Taylor, Nick; Miles, Ken; Cohen, Jon; Vincent, Richard

    2011-06-01

    To review the initial experience of blending a variety of online educational techniques with traditional face to face or contact-based teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology content at a UK Medical School. The Brighton and Sussex Medical School opened in 2003 and offers a 5-year undergraduate programme, with the final 5 spent in several regional centres. Year 5 involves several core clinical specialities with onsite radiology teaching provided at regional centres in the form of small-group tutorials, imaging seminars and also a one-day course. An online educational module was introduced in 2007 to facilitate equitable delivery of the year 5 curriculum between the regional centres and to support students on placement. This module had a strong radiological emphasis, with a combination of imaging integrated into clinical cases to reflect everyday practice and also dedicated radiology cases. For the second cohort of year 5 students in 2008 two additional online media-rich initiatives were introduced, to complement the online module, comprising imaging tutorials and an online case discussion room. In the first year for the 2007/2008 cohort, 490 cases were written, edited and delivered via the Medical School managed learning environment as part of the online module. 253 cases contained a form of image media, of which 195 cases had a radiological component with a total of 325 radiology images. Important aspects of radiology practice (e.g. consent, patient safety, contrast toxicity, ionising radiation) were also covered. There were 274,000 student hits on cases the first year, with students completing a mean of 169 cases each. High levels of student satisfaction were recorded in relation to the online module and also additional online radiology teaching initiatives. Online educational techniques can be effectively blended with other forms of teaching to allow successful undergraduate delivery of radiology. Efficient IT links and good image quality

  4. IntraFace

    OpenAIRE

    De la Torre, Fernando; Chu, Wen-Sheng; Xiong, Xuehan; Vicente, Francisco; Ding, Xiaoyu; Cohn, Jeffrey

    2015-01-01

    Within the last 20 years, there has been an increasing interest in the computer vision community in automated facial image analysis algorithms. This has been driven by applications in animation, market research, autonomous-driving, surveillance, and facial editing among others. To date, there exist several commercial packages for specific facial image analysis tasks such as facial expression recognition, facial attribute analysis or face tracking. However, free and easy-to-use software that i...

  5. Comal County, Texas: Preparing for Life after High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walter, Frank

    2018-01-01

    Comal County, Texas, may be rural but its students face many of the same challenges as students in urban districts. Communities In Schools of South Central Texas works with the local school district to identify student needs and provide critical supports to help young people prepare for life after high school.

  6. More than Money Matters: Establishing Effective School-Corporate Partnerships

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, Nancy

    2007-01-01

    Given the financial constraints facing U.S. schools and the expense of cutting-edge technology, partnerships between schools and corporations that specialize in technology are becoming more vital in the quest to remain competitive in today's educational market. Schools can benefit from these partnerships by receiving the latest hardware and…

  7. A repeated measures experiment of school playing environment to increase physical activity and enhance self-esteem in UK school children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Carly; Gladwell, Valerie; Barton, Jo

    2014-01-01

    School playtime provides daily opportunities for children to be active outdoors, but only makes small contributions to physical activity (PA) requirements. Natural environments facilitate unstructured PA and children report a preference for play in nature. Thus, play on the school field might encourage children to be more active during playtime. The primary aim of this study was to examine the impact of the school playing environment on children's PA. Descriptive data and fitness were assessed in 25 children aged 8-9 years from a single primary school. Over two consecutive weeks participants were allocated to either play on the school field or playground during playtime. The order of play in the two areas was randomised and counterbalanced. Moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was assessed during playtime on the last two days of each week using accelerometers. There was a significant interaction of environment and sex on MVPA during morning play (F(1,22) = 6.27; P0.05; np2 = 0.060) or all of playtime combined (P>0.05; np2 = 0.140). During morning play boys were significantly more active than girls on the playground (t(23) = 1.32; P0.05; n2 = 0.071). For lunch (F(1,22) = 24,11; Psex during lunch (F(1,22) = 11.56; Pschools should encourage greater use of their natural areas to increase PA.

  8. Social and emotional relevance in face processing: Happy faces of future interaction partners enhance the LPP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florian eBublatzky

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Human face perception is modulated by both emotional valence and social relevance, but their interaction has rarely been examined. Event-related brain potentials (ERP to happy, neutral, and angry facial expressions with different degrees of social relevance were recorded. Social relevance was manipulated by presenting pictures of two specific face actors as future interaction partners (meet condition, whereas two other face actors remained non-relevant. As a further control condition all stimuli were presented without specific task instructions (passive viewing condition. A within-subject design (Facial Expression x Relevance x Task was implemented, where randomly ordered face stimuli of four actors (2 women, from the KDEF were presented for 1s to 26 participants (16 female. Results showed an augmented N170, early posterior negativity (EPN, and late positive potential (LPP for emotional in contrast to neutral facial expressions. Of particular interest, face processing varied as a function of instructed social relevance. Whereas the meet condition was accompanied with unspecific effects regardless of relevance (P1, EPN, viewing potential interaction partners was associated with increased LPP amplitudes. The LPP was specifically enhanced for happy facial expressions of the future interaction partners. This underscores that social relevance can impact face processing already at an early stage of visual processing. These findings are discussed within the framework of motivated attention and face processing theories.

  9. Intelligent Web-Based English Instruction in Middle Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Jiyou

    2015-01-01

    The integration of technology into educational environments has become more prominent over the years. The combination of technology and face-to-face interaction with instructors allows for a thorough, more valuable educational experience. "Intelligent Web-Based English Instruction in Middle Schools" addresses the concerns associated with…

  10. About-face on face recognition ability and holistic processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richler, Jennifer J; Floyd, R Jackie; Gauthier, Isabel

    2015-01-01

    Previous work found a small but significant relationship between holistic processing measured with the composite task and face recognition ability measured by the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT; Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006). Surprisingly, recent work using a different measure of holistic processing (Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test [VHPT-F]; Richler, Floyd, & Gauthier, 2014) and a larger sample found no evidence for such a relationship. In Experiment 1 we replicate this unexpected result, finding no relationship between holistic processing (VHPT-F) and face recognition ability (CFMT). A key difference between the VHPT-F and other holistic processing measures is that unique face parts are used on each trial in the VHPT-F, unlike in other tasks where a small set of face parts repeat across the experiment. In Experiment 2, we test the hypothesis that correlations between the CFMT and holistic processing tasks are driven by stimulus repetition that allows for learning during the composite task. Consistent with our predictions, CFMT performance was correlated with holistic processing in the composite task when a small set of face parts repeated over trials, but not when face parts did not repeat. A meta-analysis confirms that relationships between the CFMT and holistic processing depend on stimulus repetition. These results raise important questions about what is being measured by the CFMT, and challenge current assumptions about why faces are processed holistically.

  11. An own-age bias in recognizing faces with horizontal information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Schaich

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Horizontal information, as a result of a selective filtering process, are essential in younger adults’ (YA ability to recognize human faces. Obermeyer, Kolling, Schaich, and Knopf (2012 recently reported impaired recognition of faces with horizontal information in older adults (OA suggesting age-variant processing. Two yet unconsidered factors (stimulus age and exposure duration that may have influenced previous results, were investigated in this study. Forty-seven YA (18-35yrs and 49 OA (62-83yrs were tested in a 2x2x2x2 mixed design with the between-subjects factors age group (YA vs OA and stimulus age (young faces vs older faces and the within-subjects factors filter (filtered (HF faces vs unfiltered faces (UF and exposure duration (0.8s vs 8s. Subjects were presented morph videos between pairs of faces: A starting face gradually merged into either the previously encoded target face or a control face. As expected, results showed an increase in recognition sensitivity (d’ with longer exposure duration in YA with both younger and older HF faces. OA however were unable to recognize filtered young faces not even with increased exposure duration. Furthermore, only elderly participants showed more accurate recognition with faces of their own age relative to other-age faces (own-age bias, OAB. For YA no OAB was observed. Filtered face recognition was significantly correlated with unfiltered recognition in YA but not in OA. It is concluded, that processing of horizontal information changes at a higher age. Presenting filtered or unfiltered faces both targets convergent face-specific processing only in YA but not in OA.

  12. Focus on Citizens: Public Engagement with Online and Face-to-Face Participation—A Case Study

    OpenAIRE

    Garau, Chiara

    2012-01-01

    The main objective of this paper is to focus on how an integrated system based on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and face-to-face communication can increase participation in order to have a positive effect on quality of life, plans and decisions, and to discuss the many benefits which web-based public participation can bring to the planning process through a set of improvements to relations, quality and structure of cities in general and in this case example specifically. With the...

  13. A Multidisciplinary Engineering Summer School in an Industrial Setting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Peter Gorm; Fernandes, Joao M.; Habel, Jacek

    2009-01-01

    Most university-level engineering studies produce technically skilled engineers. However, typically students face several difficulties when working in multidisciplinary teams when they initiate their industrial careers. In a globalised world, it becomes increasingly important that engineers...... are capable of collaborating across disciplinary boundaries and exhibit soft competencies, like communication, interpersonal and social skills, time planning, creativity, initiative, and reflection. To prepare a group of engineering and industrial design students to acquire those capabilities......, an international summer school that combined industrial design with different kinds of engineering disciplines was organised on the site of Bang & Olufsen (B&O) in Denmark. This multidisciplinary engineering summer school was attended by students from six European university-level teaching institutions...

  14. Face cognition in humans: Psychophysiological, developmental, and cross-cultural aspects

    OpenAIRE

    Chernorizov A. M.; Zhong-qing J.; Petrakova A. V.; Zinchenko Yu. P.

    2016-01-01

    Investigators are finding increasing evidence for cross-cultural specificity in face cognition along with individual characteristics. The functions on which face cognition is based not only are types of general cognitive functions (perception, memory) but are elements of specific mental processes. Face perception, memorization, correct recognition of faces, and understanding the information that faces provide are essential skills for humans as a social species and can be considered as facets ...

  15. Addition by Subtraction: The Relation Between Dropout Rates and School-Level Academic Achievement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glennie, Elizabeth; Bonneau, Kara; Vandellen, Michelle; Dodge, Kenneth A

    2012-01-01

    Efforts to improve student achievement should increase graduation rates. However, work investigating the effects of student-level accountability has consistently demonstrated that increases in the standards for high school graduation are correlated with increases in dropout rates. The most favored explanation for this finding is that high-stakes testing policies that mandate grade repetition and high school exit exams may be the tipping point for students who are already struggling academically. These extra demands may, in fact, push students out of school. This article examines two hypotheses regarding the relation between school-level accountability and dropout rates. The first posits that improvements in school performance lead to improved success for everyone. If school-level accountability systems improve a school for all students, then the proportion of students performing at grade level increases, and the dropout rate decreases. The second hypothesis posits that schools facing pressure to improve their overall accountability score may pursue this increase at the cost of other student outcomes, including dropout rate. Our approach focuses on the dynamic relation between school-level academic achievement and dropout rates over time-that is, between one year's achievement and the subsequent year's dropout rate, and vice versa. This article employs longitudinal data of records on all students in North Carolina public schools over an 8-year period. Analyses employ fixed-effects models clustering schools and districts within years and controls each year for school size, percentage of students who were free/reduced-price lunch eligible, percentage of students who are ethnic minorities, and locale. This study finds partial evidence that improvements in school-level academic performance will lead to improvements (i.e., decreases) in school-level dropout rates. Schools with improved performance saw decreased dropout rates following these successes. However, we find

  16. Improving Communication Skills among High School Assistant Principals To Increase Administrative Team Effectiveness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosack, Mary Browne

    This paper describes a practicum program that was developed to increase the effectiveness of the administrative team at one high school. A lack of communication skills had prevented the target group from working together as a team. Strategies included role-play activities, workshops, and communication skill-development meetings. A series of…

  17. Causes of coal degradation at working faces

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sikora, W

    1985-01-01

    Coal comminution by shearer loaders at working faces and factors influencing it are analyzed. Three groups of factors are evaluated: coal mechanical properties, design and specifications of shearer loaders and mining schemes. On the basis of analyses, recommendations for increasing proportion of coarse coal and reducing coal comminution in underground coal mines in Poland are made. Increasing output of coarse coal in coal seams with a high proportion of dull coal is most economic. Increasing power of drive systems for shearer loaders to 500 kW or more decisively influences grain size distribution of coal and increases proportion of coarse coal, especially in seams of dull coal. Gradually increasing cutting depth of a shearer loader negatively influences haulage speed and coarse coal output. Replacing gradual cutting depth increase by attack at the full cutting depth increases proportion of coarse coal. When medium or thick coal seams are mined a coal bench from 0.3 to 0.5 m thick should be left in the roof or between 2 benches cut by 2 cutting drums. The coal bench left in the face disintegrates under the influence of gravity and the proportion of coarse coal increases. Optimizing yield strength of powered supports at a working face is a further method for improving grain size distribution of coal and increasing proportion of coarse coal. 2 references.

  18. Blood Pressure and Electrocardiographic changes During Face ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Results show that in both groups of subjects face immersion in water (at either temperature) with breath-hold significantly increased BP, QRS amplitude, PR interval, QT interval and R-R interval. Face immersion thus caused a significant reduction in heart rate (HR). However, in both groups of subjects, the changes in BP ...

  19. RESEARCH CHALLENGES IN SCHOOLS TRAINING OF TEACHERS OF TLAXCALA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darney Mendoza-Morales

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available With the intention of keeping the status of educational research Forming Schools teachers in Tlaxcala, has initiated an diagnosis to define the challenges facing these institutions, mainly the Rural Normal School Lic Benito Juarez. This research is documentary, quantitative and qualitative, is still in process. area systematized information. Statistics of the Educational Services Unit of the State of Tlaxcala, the PEFEN 2011-2012 and Curriculum 2012 and also various policy documents, research data at national level and normal schools were reviewed. The first approach suggests that teacher training institutions face major challenges, which they can no longer delay therefore involves a reorganization of the activities developed by teachers and institutions.

  20. The accuracy of perceptual memory for personally known faces

    OpenAIRE

    Devue, Christel; Brédart, Serge

    2005-01-01

    Recently, Ge et al (2003 Perception 32 601 - 614) reported a very high accuracy of memory for a highly familiar face. Their Chinese participants had to identify the most veridical appearance of Mao's face among unaltered and transformed (interocular distance was gradually increased or decreased) versions of his portrait. In the present experiment, the same facial transformations were applied to our participants' faces to evaluate whether this hyperfidelity for familiar faces is specific to fa...

  1. US school morbidity and mortality, mandatory vaccination, institution closure, and interventions implemented during the 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rebmann, Terri; Elliott, Michael B; Swick, Zachary; Reddick, David

    2013-03-01

    The 2009 H1N1 pandemic disproportionately affected school-aged children, but only school-based outbreak case studies have been conducted. The purposes of this study were to evaluate US academic institutions' experiences during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in terms of infection prevention interventions implemented and to examine factors associated with school closure during the pandemic. An online survey was sent to school nurses in May through July 2011. Hierarchical logistic regressions were used to determine predictive models for having a mandatory H1N1 vaccination policy for school nurses and school closure. In all, 1,997 nurses from 26 states participated. Very few nurses (3.3%, n=65) reported having a mandatory H1N1 influenza vaccination policy; nurses were more likely than all other school employees (pnurse employed by a public health agency or hospital, and being a private school. The most commonly implemented interventions included encouraging staff and students to exercise hand hygiene and increasing classroom cleaning; least commonly implemented interventions included discouraging face-to-face meetings, training staff on H1N1 influenza and/or respiratory hygiene, and discouraging handshaking. Schools should develop and continue to improve their pandemic plans, including collaborating with community response agencies.

  2. Perceptions of school nurses on the challenges of service provision to ESL students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitman, Marilyn V; Davis, Jullet A; Terry, Allison J

    2010-04-01

    The number of English-as-as second-language (ESL) students in public schools across the country is rising creating unique challenges for school health services with the introduction of new cultures and languages. This study describes the perceptions of school nurses in Alabama schools regarding the challenges they face when communicating with ESL students and their parents. The population consists of school nurses in Alabama public schools. The obtained sample of 1,429 responses is presented and discussed. Urban school nurses were more likely to have access to an interpreter, yet they were more likely to rely on an ESL student to act as a translator when speaking to his/her parents. Kindergarten through elementary school nurses were more likely to witness an increase in ESL students and encounter difficulty communicating with these students and their parents. School nurses have a unique opportunity to engage parents of ESL students in the health of their child, thus it is vital that they be provided with cultural facts and encouraged to use interpreter services to lessen language barriers.

  3. Recommendations on Arresting Global Health Challenges Facing Adolescents and Young Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lassi, Zohra S; Salam, Rehana A; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A

    The health challenges faced by young people are more complex than adults and can compromise their full growth and development. Attention must be paid to the health of this age group, yet adolescents and youth remain largely invisible and often disappear from the major global datasets. The aim of this paper is to discuss the global health challenges faced by adolescents and youth, global legislations and guidelines pertaining to this particular age group, recommendations to arrest these challenges, and research priorities. Major direct and indirect global health risks faced by adolescents include early pregnancy and childbirth, femicide, honor killing, female genital mutilation, nutritional habits and choices, social media, and peer pressure. There are no standard legal age cut-offs for adulthood; rather, the age varies for different activities, such as age of consent or the minimum age that young people can legally work, leave school, drive, buy alcohol, marry, be held accountable for criminal action, and make medical decisions. This reflects the fact that the existing systems and structures are focused on either children or adults, with very few investments and interventions directed specifically to young people. Existing legislation and guidelines need transformation to bring about a specific focus on adolescents in the domains of substance use and sexual behaviors, and the capacity for adolescent learning should be exploited through graduated legal and policy frameworks. Sustainable development goals provide an opportunity to target this neglected and vulnerable age group. A multisectoral approach is needed to bring about healthy change and address the challenges faced by adolescents and youth, from modifications at a broader legislative and policy level to ground-level (community-level) implementations. Copyright © 2017 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Inside the Digital Wild West: How School Leaders Both Access and Avoid Social Media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corrigan, Laurie; Robertson, Lorayne

    2015-01-01

    This study examines the roles of Canadian school leaders in response to the rising phenomenon of student use of social media which impacts school climate and safety. The use of social media has resulted in more online text and image-based communication to multiple users and less face-to-face communication with single users. Adolescent…

  5. Blended Learning: A Mixed-Methods Study on Successful Schools and Effective Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathews, Anne

    2017-01-01

    Blended learning is a teaching technique that utilizes face-to-face teaching and online or technology-based practice in which the learner has the ability to exert some level of control over the pace, place, path, or time of learning. Schools that employ this method of teaching often demonstrate larger gains than traditional face-to-face programs…

  6. The FIT Game: preliminary evaluation of a gamification approach to increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Brooke A; Madden, Gregory J; Wengreen, Heidi J

    2014-11-01

    Incentive-based interventions designed to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption tend to yield positive, short-term outcomes. Because consumption most often returns to baseline levels when incentives are removed, sustainable long-duration interventions may be needed to impact public health. Anticipating that low-cost interventions will be more appealing to schools, the present study explored a low-cost, game-based intervention. An alternating-treatments design was used to evaluate the effects of the FIT Game on objectively measured FV consumption in one elementary school (n=251) in Utah. During the Fall 2013 semester, game-based rewards were provided to heroic characters within a fictional narrative read by teachers on days when the school, as a whole, met a fruit or vegetable consumption goal in accord with the alternating-treatments design. On intervention days, fruit and vegetable consumption increased by 39% and 33%, (p<0.01, p<0.05; binomial tests), respectively. Teacher surveys indicated that students enjoyed the game and grade 1-3 teachers recommended its use in other schools. This game-based intervention provides a promising step towards developing a low-cost, effective, and sustainable FV intervention that schools can implement without outside assistance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. The Effect of Locus of Control on School Turnaround

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walston, Bradford

    2012-01-01

    This research focused on the school turnaround process in six turnaround elementary schools located in urban and rural areas of the state of North Carolina. The purpose of the study was to learn about the challenges facing the six schools, the process of improving student achievement, and, more specifically, the degree to which adaptive leadership…

  8. The Role of Leadership in Surviving a School Shooting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Carleton H.

    2018-01-01

    At a small rural middle school in the southern United States, two students murdered a teacher, four students, and injured 10 during a shooting spree. This case represents the lived experiences of a school principal, counselor, and community that survived the deadly rampage. The case highlights the challenges that school leaders may face such as…

  9. Are Face and Object Recognition Independent? A Neurocomputational Modeling Exploration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Panqu; Gauthier, Isabel; Cottrell, Garrison

    2016-04-01

    Are face and object recognition abilities independent? Although it is commonly believed that they are, Gauthier et al. [Gauthier, I., McGugin, R. W., Richler, J. J., Herzmann, G., Speegle, M., & VanGulick, A. E. Experience moderates overlap between object and face recognition, suggesting a common ability. Journal of Vision, 14, 7, 2014] recently showed that these abilities become more correlated as experience with nonface categories increases. They argued that there is a single underlying visual ability, v, that is expressed in performance with both face and nonface categories as experience grows. Using the Cambridge Face Memory Test and the Vanderbilt Expertise Test, they showed that the shared variance between Cambridge Face Memory Test and Vanderbilt Expertise Test performance increases monotonically as experience increases. Here, we address why a shared resource across different visual domains does not lead to competition and to an inverse correlation in abilities? We explain this conundrum using our neurocomputational model of face and object processing ["The Model", TM, Cottrell, G. W., & Hsiao, J. H. Neurocomputational models of face processing. In A. J. Calder, G. Rhodes, M. Johnson, & J. Haxby (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of face perception. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011]. We model the domain general ability v as the available computational resources (number of hidden units) in the mapping from input to label and experience as the frequency of individual exemplars in an object category appearing during network training. Our results show that, as in the behavioral data, the correlation between subordinate level face and object recognition accuracy increases as experience grows. We suggest that different domains do not compete for resources because the relevant features are shared between faces and objects. The essential power of experience is to generate a "spreading transform" for faces (separating them in representational space) that

  10. The Legal Content of School Psychology Journals: A Systematic Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaheer, Imad; Zirkel, Perry A.

    2014-01-01

    The many challenges that school psychologists face inevitably include legal issues. In light of the agreement between the two primary professional organizations for school psychologists that understanding of law is a critical competency, this study analyzed the extent of law-based articles in leading school psychology journal articles published…

  11. A non-foodborne norovirus outbreak among school children during a skiing holiday, Austria, 2007.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Hung-Wei; Schmid, Daniela; Schwarz, Karin; Pichler, Anna-Margaretha; Klein, Heidelinde; König, Christoph; de Martin, Alfred; Allerberger, Franz

    2009-01-01

    Norovirus is increasingly recognized as a leading cause of outbreaks of foodborne disease. We report on an outbreak in Austria that reached a total of 176 cases, affecting pupils and teachers from four schools on a skiing holiday in a youth hostel in the province of Salzburg in December 2007. A questionnaire was sent to the four schools in order to obtain data from persons attending the school trip on disease status, clinical onset, duration of illness and hospitalization. A cohort study was undertaken to identify the sources of infection. The school trip attendees were interviewed by questionnaire or face-to-face on their exposure to food items from the menu provided by the hostel owner. Of the 284 school holiday-makers, 176 fitted the definition of an outbreak case (attack rate 61.9%). A total of 264 persons on the ski holiday participated in the cohort study (response rate 93%). The day-by-day food-specific analyses did not find any food items served on any of five days (December 8-12) of the holiday to be associated with infection risk. The day-specific risk analyses revealed Monday December 10 (RR: 9.04; 95% CI: 6.02-13.6; P Tourism is one of the primary industries in Austria. Timely involvement of the relevant public health authorities is essential in any outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis, irrespective of its genesis.

  12. Knowledge and Professional Development for Principals Leading Linguistic Communities in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidal-Butler, Stacey Lynn

    2017-01-01

    The role of the school principal is demanding in a variety of ways. School principals are faced with the daily challenge of balancing their roles of site manager and instructional leader. This study examined and identified the knowledge and learning opportunities school principals rely upon to lead schools, particularly those that lead schools…

  13. An Exploratory Study of Distinguishing Challenges Faced by Mid-Life Teacher Candidates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanksley, James F.

    2012-01-01

    The United States public education system is facing a possible shortage of several hundred thousand teachers over the next decade. To overcome the projected shortfall in teacher supply, schools of education of state university and college systems may need to look to the fastest growing segment of the college student population, the non-traditional…

  14. Effectiveness of integrating case studies in online and face-to-face instruction of pathophysiology: a comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saleh, Suha M; Asi, Yara M; Hamed, Kastro M

    2013-06-01

    Due to growing demand from students and facilitated by innovations in educational technology, institutions of higher learning are increasingly offering online courses. Subjects in the hard sciences, such as pathophysiology, have traditionally been taught in the face-to-face format, but growing demand for preclinical science courses has compelled educators to incorporate online components into their classes to promote comprehension. Learning tools such as case studies are being integrated into such courses to aid in student interaction, engagement, and critical thinking skills. Careful assessment of pedagogical techniques is essential; hence, this study aimed to evaluate and compare student perceptions of the use of case studies in face-to-face and fully online pathophysiology classes. A series of case studies was incorporated into the curriculum of a pathophysiology class for both class modes (online and face to face). At the end of the semester, students filled out a survey assessing the effectiveness of the case studies. Both groups offered positive responses about the incorporation of case studies in the curriculum of the pathophysiology class. This study supports the argument that with proper use of innovative teaching tools, such as case studies, online pathophysiology classes can foster a sense of community and interaction that is typically only seen with face-to-face classes, based on student responses. Students also indicated that regardless of class teaching modality, use of case studies facilitates student learning and comprehension as well as prepares them for their future careers in health fields.

  15. Effectiveness of link prediction for face-to-face behavioral networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsugawa, Sho; Ohsaki, Hiroyuki

    2013-01-01

    Research on link prediction for social networks has been actively pursued. In link prediction for a given social network obtained from time-windowed observation, new link formation in the network is predicted from the topology of the obtained network. In contrast, recent advances in sensing technology have made it possible to obtain face-to-face behavioral networks, which are social networks representing face-to-face interactions among people. However, the effectiveness of link prediction techniques for face-to-face behavioral networks has not yet been explored in depth. To clarify this point, here we investigate the accuracy of conventional link prediction techniques for networks obtained from the history of face-to-face interactions among participants at an academic conference. Our findings were (1) that conventional link prediction techniques predict new link formation with a precision of 0.30-0.45 and a recall of 0.10-0.20, (2) that prolonged observation of social networks often degrades the prediction accuracy, (3) that the proposed decaying weight method leads to higher prediction accuracy than can be achieved by observing all records of communication and simply using them unmodified, and (4) that the prediction accuracy for face-to-face behavioral networks is relatively high compared to that for non-social networks, but not as high as for other types of social networks.

  16. A plant to plate pilot: a cold-climate high school garden increased vegetable selection but also waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wansink, Brian; Hanks, Andrew S; Just, David R

    2015-08-01

    Can high school gardens in cold climates influence vegetable intake in the absence of nutrition education? This study followed a before/after design where student tray-waste data were collected using the quarter-waste method. The study took place March-April 2012 in a high school in upstate New York. The subjects were 370 enrolled high school students that purchased lunch from the school cafeteria. Prior to the introduction of garden greens in the salad, salads were served as usual. On April 24, harvested greens were included in the salad, and changes in selection and plate waste were measured. When the salad bar contained garden produce, the percentage of students selecting salad rose from 2% to 10% (p school gardens increased selection and intake of school-raised produce. Although a third was not eaten, it is promising to see that still more produce was consumed compared to the past. ©2015 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Effects of pose and image resolution on automatic face recognition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mahmood, Zahid; Ali, Tauseef; Khan, Samee U.

    The popularity of face recognition systems have increased due to their use in widespread applications. Driven by the enormous number of potential application domains, several algorithms have been proposed for face recognition. Face pose and image resolutions are among the two important factors that

  18. Safety and Children: How Schools Can Help.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatkoff, Amy

    1994-01-01

    Explores the role that schools can play in providing direction, guidance, and support to children and adolescents in the face of growing violence in society and in schools. Discusses the development and implementation of preventive measures such as additions to the curriculum, mentoring programs, child abuse and neglect programs, parent education,…

  19. Validated assessment scales for the lower face.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narins, Rhoda S; Carruthers, Jean; Flynn, Timothy C; Geister, Thorin L; Görtelmeyer, Roman; Hardas, Bhushan; Himmrich, Silvia; Jones, Derek; Kerscher, Martina; de Maio, Maurício; Mohrmann, Cornelia; Pooth, Rainer; Rzany, Berthold; Sattler, Gerhard; Buchner, Larry; Benter, Ursula; Breitscheidel, Lusine; Carruthers, Alastair

    2012-02-01

    Aging in the lower face leads to lines, wrinkles, depression of the corners of the mouth, and changes in lip volume and lip shape, with increased sagging of the skin of the jawline. Refined, easy-to-use, validated, objective standards assessing the severity of these changes are required in clinical research and practice. To establish the reliability of eight lower face scales assessing nasolabial folds, marionette lines, upper and lower lip fullness, lip wrinkles (at rest and dynamic), the oral commissure and jawline, aesthetic areas, and the lower face unit. Four 5-point rating scales were developed to objectively assess upper and lower lip wrinkles, oral commissures, and the jawline. Twelve experts rated identical lower face photographs of 50 subjects in two separate rating cycles using eight 5-point scales. Inter- and intrarater reliability of responses was assessed. Interrater reliability was substantial or almost perfect for all lower face scales, aesthetic areas, and the lower face unit. Intrarater reliability was high for all scales, areas and the lower face unit. Our rating scales are reliable tools for valid and reproducible assessment of the aging process in lower face areas. © 2012 by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, Inc. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Mobile Learning: New Tools Flying in the Face of the Same Old Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berge, Zane L.

    2013-01-01

    Currently mobile learning is making headlines in the educational press as a possible path for transforming education, just like it has significantly changed communication in business and society generally. Technology in American schools has a decades-long history of failure compared with its use outside schooling. Until the structure and political…

  1. School Voices: Challenges Facing Education Systems after Identity-Based Conflicts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinstein, Harvey M.; Freedman, Sarah Warshauer; Hughson, Holly

    2007-01-01

    We describe our research on the role of education in the social reconstruction of countries after mass conflict. Our studies focus on the voices of those least heard in the discourse--teachers, students, administrators and parents. We examine schools in four societies that experienced profound violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide during the…

  2. Girls Getting to Secondary School Safely: Combating Gender-Based Violence in the Transportation Sector in Tanzania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mack, Laura

    2009-01-01

    While increasing girls' access to education is a global priority, there are numerous barriers that impede significant progress in achieving gender parity in schools. While enrollment of girl students is up in Tanzania, especially at the primary and secondary levels, AED has become concerned about the barriers girls face, including gender-based…

  3. Effects of acute psychosocial stress on neural activity to emotional and neutral faces in a face recognition memory paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Shijia; Weerda, Riklef; Milde, Christopher; Wolf, Oliver T; Thiel, Christiane M

    2014-12-01

    Previous studies have shown that acute psychosocial stress impairs recognition of declarative memory and that emotional material is especially sensitive to this effect. Animal studies suggest a central role of the amygdala which modulates memory processes in hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and other brain areas. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural correlates of stress-induced modulation of emotional recognition memory in humans. Twenty-seven healthy, right-handed, non-smoker male volunteers performed an emotional face recognition task. During encoding, participants were presented with 50 fearful and 50 neutral faces. One hour later, they underwent either a stress (Trier Social Stress Test) or a control procedure outside the scanner which was followed immediately by the recognition session inside the scanner, where participants had to discriminate between 100 old and 50 new faces. Stress increased salivary cortisol, blood pressure and pulse, and decreased the mood of participants but did not impact recognition memory. BOLD data during recognition revealed a stress condition by emotion interaction in the left inferior frontal gyrus and right hippocampus which was due to a stress-induced increase of neural activity to fearful and a decrease to neutral faces. Functional connectivity analyses revealed a stress-induced increase in coupling between the right amygdala and the right fusiform gyrus, when processing fearful as compared to neutral faces. Our results provide evidence that acute psychosocial stress affects medial temporal and frontal brain areas differentially for neutral and emotional items, with a stress-induced privileged processing of emotional stimuli.

  4. Leadership Strategies for Maintaining Success in a Rural School District

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Greta G.; Randolph, Ivan

    2013-01-01

    Success in a PK-12 educational environment begins at the top with school leadership. Due to economic problems, poverty and added responsibilities, leaders in rural communities throughout the United States face sensitive and distinctive challenges. Based on research and years of administrative experience as school and school system leaders, the…

  5. The construction FACE database - Codifying the NIOSH FACE reports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Xiuwen Sue; Largay, Julie A; Wang, Xuanwen; Cain, Chris Trahan; Romano, Nancy

    2017-09-01

    The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has published reports detailing the results of investigations on selected work-related fatalities through the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program since 1982. Information from construction-related FACE reports was coded into the Construction FACE Database (CFD). Use of the CFD was illustrated by analyzing major CFD variables. A total of 768 construction fatalities were included in the CFD. Information on decedents, safety training, use of PPE, and FACE recommendations were coded. Analysis shows that one in five decedents in the CFD died within the first two months on the job; 75% and 43% of reports recommended having safety training or installing protection equipment, respectively. Comprehensive research using FACE reports may improve understanding of work-related fatalities and provide much-needed information on injury prevention. The CFD allows researchers to analyze the FACE reports quantitatively and efficiently. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

  6. Elektronická komunikace vs. komunikace face to face

    OpenAIRE

    Pipková, Zuzana

    2009-01-01

    This thesis deals with new forms of communication particularly electronic ones. The main goal is to distinguish electronic communication from face to face communication in a way that differs from traditional media theories. By using examples of the most important medium in electronic communication, Internet, it is shown that nowadays we have such forms of electronic communication that surpass the traditional classification of oral/written communication, immediate/mediate communication, face t...

  7. The Online and Face-to-Face Counseling Attitudes Scales: A Validation Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rochlen, Aaron B.; Beretvas, S. Natasha; Zack, Jason S.

    2004-01-01

    This article reports on the development of measures of attitudes toward online and face-to-face counseling. Overall, participants expressed more favorable evaluations of face-to-face counseling than of online counseling. Significant correlations were found between online and face-to-face counseling with traditional help-seeking attitudes, comfort…

  8. Credit Recovery in a Virtual School: Affordances of Online Learning for the At-Risk Student

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliver, Kevin; Kellogg, Shaun

    2015-01-01

    This paper summarizes evaluation findings about a high school credit recovery (CR) program as solicited by a statesponsored virtual school in the United States. Student and teacher surveys explained why CR students failed previous instances of face-to-face courses and defined how the online CR model helped these learners overcome both internal…

  9. Facebook and MySpace: complement or substitute for face-to-face interaction?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kujath, Carlyne L

    2011-01-01

    Previous studies have claimed that social-networking sites are used as a substitute for face-to-face interaction, resulting in deteriorating relationship quality and decreased intimacy among its users. The present study hypothesized that this type of communication is not a substitute for face-to-face interaction; rather, that it is an extension of communication with face-to-face partners. A survey was administered to examine the use of Facebook and MySpace in this regard among 183 college students. The study confirmed that Facebook and MySpace do act as an extension of face-to-face interaction, but that some users do tend to rely on Facebook and MySpace for interpersonal communication more than face-to-face interaction.

  10. Typical and atypical neurodevelopment for face specialization: An fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Jane E.; Zhu, Xun; Gundran, Andrew; Davies, Faraday; Clark, Jonathan D.; Ruble, Lisa; Glaser, Paul; Bhatt, Ramesh S.

    2014-01-01

    Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their relatives process faces differently from typically developed (TD) individuals. In an fMRI face-viewing task, TD and undiagnosed sibling (SIB) children (5–18 years) showed face specialization in the right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), with left fusiform and right amygdala face specialization increasing with age in TD subjects. SIBs showed extensive antero-medial temporal lobe activation for faces that was not present in any other group, suggesting a potential compensatory mechanism. In ASD, face specialization was minimal but increased with age in the right fusiform and decreased with age in the left amygdala, suggesting atypical development of a frontal-amygdala-fusiform system which is strongly linked to detecting salience and processing facial information. PMID:25479816

  11. Encouraging Participation in Face-to-Face Lectures: The Index Card Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daws, Laura Beth

    2018-01-01

    Courses: This activity will work in any face-to-face communication lecture course. Objectives: By the end of the semester in a face-to-face lecture class, every student will have engaged in verbal discussion.

  12. Successful Face Recognition Is Associated with Increased Prefrontal Cortex Activation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrington, John D.; Riley, Meghan E.; Grupe, Daniel W.; Schultz, Robert T.

    2015-01-01

    This study examines whether deficits in visual information processing in autism-spectrum disorder (ASD) can be offset by the recruitment of brain structures involved in selective attention. During functional MRI, 12 children with ASD and 19 control participants completed a selective attention one-back task in which images of faces and houses were…

  13. Is a school-based physical activity intervention effective for increasing tibial bone strength in boys and girls?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macdonald, Heather M; Kontulainen, Saija A; Khan, Karim M; McKay, Heather A

    2007-03-01

    This 16-month randomized, controlled school-based study compared change in tibial bone strength between 281 boys and girls participating in a daily program of physical activity (Action Schools! BC) and 129 same-sex controls. The simple, pragmatic intervention increased distal tibia bone strength in prepubertal boys; it had no effect in early pubertal boys or pre or early pubertal girls. Numerous school-based exercise interventions have proven effective for enhancing BMC, but none have used pQCT to evaluate the effects of increased loading on bone strength during growth. Thus, our aim was to determine whether a daily program of physical activity, Action Schools! BC (AS! BC) would improve tibial bone strength in boys and girls who were pre- (Tanner stage 1) or early pubertal (Tanner stage 2 or 3) at baseline. Ten schools were randomized to intervention (INT, 7 schools) or control (CON, 3 schools). The bone-loading component of AS! BC included a daily jumping program (Bounce at the Bell) plus 15 minutes/day of classroom physical activity in addition to regular physical education. We used pQCT to compare 16-month change in bone strength index (BSI, mg2/mm4) at the distal tibia (8% site) and polar strength strain index (SSIp, mm3) at the tibial midshaft (50% site) in 281 boys and girls participating in AS! BC and 129 same-sex controls. We used a linear mixed effects model to analyze our data. Children were 10.2+/-0.6 years at baseline. Intervention boys tended to have a greater increase in BSI (+774.6 mg2/mm4; 95% CI: 672.7, 876.4) than CON boys (+650.9 mg2/mm4; 95% CI: 496.4, 805.4), but the difference was only significant in prepubertal boys (p=0.03 for group x maturity interaction). Intervention boys also tended to have a greater increase in SSIp (+198.6 mm3; 95% CI: 182.9, 214.3) than CON boys (+177.1 mm3; 95% CI: 153.5, 200.7). Change in BSI and SSIp was similar between CON and INT girls. Our findings suggest that a simple, pragmatic program of daily activity

  14. Health Promotion in Danish schools: local priorities, policies and practices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simovska, Venka; Nordin, Lone Lindegard; Madsen, Katrine Dahl

    2016-01-01

    are translated into national and local practices? What gets “lost in translation”, and what is added? The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge and dialogue concerning these translation processes. The study sought to identify the gaps, tensions, challenges and possibilities associated......Health and wellbeing are repeatedly identified among the greatest global challenges facing societies. As such, schools have a responsibility to support and develop children’s competences and their commitment to dealing with these challenges in socially responsible and imaginative ways. The field...... with the drive to increase the quality and effectiveness of health promotion in schools while remaining loyal to the main principles of the critical, socio-ecological paradigm of the Health Promoting Schools initiative (Green and Tones, 2010). In the following, we first present the conceptual framework, context...

  15. Early (N170) activation of face-specific cortex by face-like objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadjikhani, Nouchine; Kveraga, Kestutis; Naik, Paulami; Ahlfors, Seppo P.

    2009-01-01

    The tendency to perceive faces in random patterns exhibiting configural properties of faces is an example of pareidolia. Perception of ‘real’ faces has been associated with a cortical response signal arising at about 170ms after stimulus onset; but what happens when non-face objects are perceived as faces? Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we found that objects incidentally perceived as faces evoked an early (165ms) activation in the ventral fusiform cortex, at a time and location similar to that evoked by faces, whereas common objects did not evoke such activation. An earlier peak at 130 ms was also seen for images of real faces only. Our findings suggest that face perception evoked by face-like objects is a relatively early process, and not a late re-interpretation cognitive phenomenon. PMID:19218867

  16. Health insurance premium increases for the 5 largest school districts in the United States, 2004-2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantillo, John R

    2010-03-01

    Local school districts are often one of the largest, if not the largest, employers in their respective communities. Like many large employers, school districts offer health insurance to their employees. There is a lack of information about the rate of health insurance premiums in US school districts relative to other employers. To assess the change in the costs of healthcare insurance in the 5 largest public school districts in the United States, between 2004 and 2008, as representative of large public employers in the country. Data for this study were drawn exclusively from a survey sent to the 5 largest public school districts in the United States. The survey requested responses on 3 data elements for each benefit plan offered from 2004 through 2008; these included enrollment, employee costs, and employer costs. The premium growth for the 5 largest school districts has slowed down and is consistent with other purchasers-Kaiser/Health Research & Educational Trust and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program. The average increase in health insurance premium for the schools was 5.9% in 2008, and the average annual growth rate over the study period was 7.5%. For family coverage, these schools provide the most generous employer contribution (80.8%) compared with the employer contribution reported by other employers (73.5%) for 2008. Often the largest employers in their communities, school districts demonstrate a commitment to provide choice of benefits and affordability for employees and their families. Despite constraints typical of public employers, the 5 largest school districts in the United States have decelerated in premium growth consistent with other purchasers, albeit at a slower pace.

  17. Towards School Transformation. Evaluation of a Coexistence Program from the Voice of Students and Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grau, Roser; García-Raga, Laura; López-Martín, Ramón

    2016-01-01

    Learning to coexist continues to be one of the challenges faced by the current educational system, especially for those schools located in contexts at risk of social exclusion where the violence rate increases on a daily basis. The main aim sought by the present study consists in assessing the impact of a program developed at an educational center…

  18. Efficacy of Peer Networks to Increase Social Connections among High School Students with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hochman, Julia M.; Carter, Erik W.; Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; Harvey, Michelle N.; Gustafson, Jenny R.

    2015-01-01

    Although peer interaction takes on increased salience during adolescence, such social connections remain elusive for many high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This social isolation can be particularly prevalent within unstructured school contexts. In this study, we examined the effects of a lunchtime peer network intervention…

  19. Invariant Face recognition Using Infrared Images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zahran, E.G.

    2012-01-01

    Over the past few decades, face recognition has become a rapidly growing research topic due to the increasing demands in many applications of our daily life such as airport surveillance, personal identification in law enforcement, surveillance systems, information safety, securing financial transactions, and computer security. The objective of this thesis is to develop a face recognition system capable of recognizing persons with a high recognition capability, low processing time, and under different illumination conditions, and different facial expressions. The thesis presents a study for the performance of the face recognition system using two techniques; the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and the Zernike Moments (ZM). The performance of the recognition system is evaluated according to several aspects including the recognition rate, and the processing time. Face recognition systems that use visual images are sensitive to variations in the lighting conditions and facial expressions. The performance of these systems may be degraded under poor illumination conditions or for subjects of various skin colors. Several solutions have been proposed to overcome these limitations. One of these solutions is to work in the Infrared (IR) spectrum. IR images have been suggested as an alternative source of information for detection and recognition of faces, when there is little or no control over lighting conditions. This arises from the fact that these images are formed due to thermal emissions from skin, which is an intrinsic property because these emissions depend on the distribution of blood vessels under the skin. On the other hand IR face recognition systems still have limitations with temperature variations and recognition of persons wearing eye glasses. In this thesis we will fuse IR images with visible images to enhance the performance of face recognition systems. Images are fused using the wavelet transform. Simulation results show that the fusion of visible and

  20. The inherent limits of predicting school violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulvey, E P; Cauffman, E

    2001-10-01

    The recent media hype over school shootings has led to demands for methods of identifying school shooters before they act. Despite the fact that schools remain one of the safest places for youths to be, schools are beginning to adopt identification systems to determine which students could be future killers. The methods used to accomplish this not only are unproven but are inherently limited in usefulness and often do more harm than good for both the children and the school setting. The authors' goals in the present article are to place school shootings in perspective relative to other risks of violence that children face and to provide a reasonable and scientifically defensible approach to improving the safety of schools.

  1. School is not “place for belly”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Raquel Rohr

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Public schools and teenage pregnancy were the focus of the master’s dissertation School experiences of mother-girls from the suburbs of Ijui-RS. In this study, the relationship between public schools and pregnant students or teenage mothers is discussed, from the speech of management teams about the actions tried at schools facing issues of sexuality and pregnancy. It is aimed at understanding the limits and possibilities of the school dealing with pregnancy and the perception of oneself as pregnant student. The school seems to be a non place for bellies, once pregnancy of a young student points to a certain strangeness, even though invisible, between the young mother and the school.

  2. Old Elite Schools, History and the Construction of a New Imaginary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rizvi, Fazal

    2014-01-01

    Elite schools established in the nineteenth century in the image of British public schools now face intense competition from newly established elite schools. Located within the broader research project that this special issue discusses, this paper examines some of the ways in which an old elite school in India has sought to utilise is history to…

  3. A Grounded Theory of School of Education Futures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doiron, Joseph A.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the futures that school of education leaders envision for their institutions. American higher education institutions broadly, and schools of education specifically, face a complex of challenges to their traditional structures, processes, practices, value, and values. These challenges create…

  4. Serving vegetables first: A strategy to increase vegetable consumption in elementary school cafeterias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elsbernd, S L; Reicks, M M; Mann, T L; Redden, J P; Mykerezi, E; Vickers, Z M

    2016-01-01

    Vegetable consumption in the United States is low despite the wealth of evidence that vegetables play an important role in reducing risk of various chronic diseases. Because eating patterns developed in childhood continue through adulthood, we need to form healthy eating habits in children. The objective of this study was to determine if offering vegetables before other meal components would increase the overall consumption of vegetables at school lunch. We served kindergarten through fifth-grade students a small portion (26-33 g) of a raw vegetable (red and yellow bell peppers) while they waited in line to receive the rest of their lunch meal. They then had the options to take more of the bell peppers, a different vegetable, or no vegetable from the lunch line. We measured the amount of each vegetable consumed by each child. Serving vegetables first greatly increased the number of students eating vegetables. On intervention days most of the vegetables consumed came from the vegetables-first portions. Total vegetable intake per student eating lunch was low because most students chose to not eat vegetables, but the intervention significantly increased this value. Serving vegetables first is a viable strategy to increase vegetable consumption in elementary schools. Long-term implementation of this strategy may have an important impact on healthy eating habits, vegetable consumption, and the health consequences of vegetable intake. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Menstrual Hygiene, Management, and Waste Disposal: Practices and Challenges Faced by Girls/Women of Developing Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Rajanbir Kaur; Kanwaljit Kaur; Rajinder Kaur

    2018-01-01

    Menstruation and menstrual practices still face many social, cultural, and religious restrictions which are a big barrier in the path of menstrual hygiene management. In many parts of the country especially in rural areas girls are not prepared and aware about menstruation so they face many difficulties and challenges at home, schools, and work places. While reviewing literature, we found that little, inaccurate, or incomplete knowledge about menstruation is a great hindrance in the path of p...

  6. Increases in alcohol and marijuana use during the transition out of high school into emerging adulthood: The effects of leaving home, going to college, and high school protective factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Helene Raskin; McMorris, Barbara J; Catalano, Richard F; Fleming, Charles B; Haggerty, Kevin P; Abbott, Robert D

    2006-11-01

    This study examined the effects of leaving home and going to college on changes in the frequency of alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking, and marijuana use shortly after leaving high school. We also examined how protective factors in late adolescence predict post-high school substance use and moderate the effects of leaving home and going to college. Data came from subjects (N = 319; 53% male) interviewed at the end of 12th grade and again approximately 6 months later, as part of the Raising Healthy Children project. Leaving home and going to college were significantly related to increases in the frequency of alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking from high school to emerging adulthood but not to changes in marijuana use. Having fewer friends who used each substance protected against increases in the frequency of alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking, and marijuana use. Higher religiosity protected against increases in alcohol-and marijuana-use frequency. Higher parental monitoring protected against increases in heavy episodic drinking and moderated the effect of going to college on marijuana use. Lower sensation seeking lessened the effect of going to college on increases in alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking. To prevent increases in substance use in emerging adulthood, interventions should concentrate on strengthening prosocial involvement and parental monitoring during high school. In addition, youths with high sensation seeking might be targeted for added intervention.

  7. A specialized face-processing model inspired by the organization of monkey face patches explains several face-specific phenomena observed in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farzmahdi, Amirhossein; Rajaei, Karim; Ghodrati, Masoud; Ebrahimpour, Reza; Khaligh-Razavi, Seyed-Mahdi

    2016-04-26

    Converging reports indicate that face images are processed through specialized neural networks in the brain -i.e. face patches in monkeys and the fusiform face area (FFA) in humans. These studies were designed to find out how faces are processed in visual system compared to other objects. Yet, the underlying mechanism of face processing is not completely revealed. Here, we show that a hierarchical computational model, inspired by electrophysiological evidence on face processing in primates, is able to generate representational properties similar to those observed in monkey face patches (posterior, middle and anterior patches). Since the most important goal of sensory neuroscience is linking the neural responses with behavioral outputs, we test whether the proposed model, which is designed to account for neural responses in monkey face patches, is also able to predict well-documented behavioral face phenomena observed in humans. We show that the proposed model satisfies several cognitive face effects such as: composite face effect and the idea of canonical face views. Our model provides insights about the underlying computations that transfer visual information from posterior to anterior face patches.

  8. Alcohol consumption in Polish middle and high school pupils – has this rapidly increased during 2009–11?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulina Wojtyła-Buciora

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available [b]Introduction.[/b] The dynamic rise of alcohol consumption in adolescents is a matter of serious concern, requiring frequently updated monitoring. By such means, it is possible to optimise preventative measures for dealing with this problem. [b]Objective[/b]. To estimate the magnitude/amount and frequency of alcohol consumed by middle and high school pupils in Poland, including the circumstances when alcohol was first drunk. [b]Materials and Methods[/b]. A randomised survey was performed throughout Poland on middle school (junior high school pupils, (n=9360 in 2009, followed by both middle and high school pupils in 2011 (n=7971. The questionnaire was devised by the Polish Chief Sanitary Inspectorate (GIS. [b]Results[/b]. A strikingly sharp increase in alcohol consumption (29% was observed in subjects between 2009 – 2011. In the latter year, 1 month prior to survey, respectively, 50% and 71% of middle school and high school pupils drank alcohol, and correspondingly, 36% and 63% of these pupils ever became intoxicated/drunk. [b]Conclusions[/b]. 1 Adolescent alcohol consumption increases with age and is highest in girls. Monitoring as well as in-depth analysis thus becomes necessary. 2 Systematic monitoring and analysis of changing healthy lifestyle behaviour should be used for taking the necessary corrective action. This should happen concurrently and consist of planned health education programmes, including health promotion.

  9. Early (M170) activation of face-specific cortex by face-like objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadjikhani, Nouchine; Kveraga, Kestutis; Naik, Paulami; Ahlfors, Seppo P

    2009-03-04

    The tendency to perceive faces in random patterns exhibiting configural properties of faces is an example of pareidolia. Perception of 'real' faces has been associated with a cortical response signal arising at approximately 170 ms after stimulus onset, but what happens when nonface objects are perceived as faces? Using magnetoencephalography, we found that objects incidentally perceived as faces evoked an early (165 ms) activation in the ventral fusiform cortex, at a time and location similar to that evoked by faces, whereas common objects did not evoke such activation. An earlier peak at 130 ms was also seen for images of real faces only. Our findings suggest that face perception evoked by face-like objects is a relatively early process, and not a late reinterpretation cognitive phenomenon.

  10. Issues and Impediments Faced by Canadian Teachers While Integrating ICT in Pedagogical Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxena, Anoop

    2017-01-01

    Teachers in many schools struggle to integrate Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as part of their teaching practice. Among the issues faced by teachers when attempting to integrate ICT into their classrooms are gaps in ICT knowledge and skills, lack of training and inadequate support and scaffolding. Other issues include inability to…

  11. Creating Linkages between Private and Public: Challenges Facing Woman Principals in South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moorosi, Pontso

    2007-01-01

    In trying to understand some of the gendered discourses that shape the management of schools as organisations in South Africa, I analyse woman principals' experiences as they try to navigate a balance between their home and work responsibilities. After their appointment as principals, some South African women face difficulties in striking the…

  12. Separating boys and girls and increasing weight? Assessing the impacts of single-sex schools through random assignment in Seoul.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jaesung; Park, Hyunjoon; Behrman, Jere R

    2015-06-01

    A growing body of research reports associations of school contexts with adolescents' weight and weight-related behaviors. One interesting, but under-researched, dimension of school context that potentially matters for adolescents' weight is the gender composition. If boys and girls are separated into single-sex schools, they might be less concerned about physical appearance, which may result in increased weight. Utilizing a unique setting in Seoul, Korea where students are randomly assigned to single-sex and coeducational schools within school districts, we estimate causal effects of single-sex schools on weight and weight-related behaviors. Our results show that students attending single-sex schools are more likely to be overweight, and that the effects are more pronounced for girls. We also find that girls in single-sex schools are less likely to engage in strenuous activities than their coeducational counterparts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Comparison of Knowledge and Attitudes Using Computer-Based and Face-to-Face Personal Hygiene Training Methods in Food Processing Facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenton, Ginger D.; LaBorde, Luke F.; Radhakrishna, Rama B.; Brown, J. Lynne; Cutter, Catherine N.

    2006-01-01

    Computer-based training is increasingly favored by food companies for training workers due to convenience, self-pacing ability, and ease of use. The objectives of this study were to determine if personal hygiene training, offered through a computer-based method, is as effective as a face-to-face method in knowledge acquisition and improved…

  14. Collaborative Random Faces-Guided Encoders for Pose-Invariant Face Representation Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Ming; Zhang, Yizhe; Fu, Yun

    2018-04-01

    Learning discriminant face representation for pose-invariant face recognition has been identified as a critical issue in visual learning systems. The challenge lies in the drastic changes of facial appearances between the test face and the registered face. To that end, we propose a high-level feature learning framework called "collaborative random faces (RFs)-guided encoders" toward this problem. The contributions of this paper are three fold. First, we propose a novel supervised autoencoder that is able to capture the high-level identity feature despite of pose variations. Second, we enrich the identity features by replacing the target values of conventional autoencoders with random signals (RFs in this paper), which are unique for each subject under different poses. Third, we further improve the performance of the framework by incorporating deep convolutional neural network facial descriptors and linking discriminative identity features from different RFs for the augmented identity features. Finally, we conduct face identification experiments on Multi-PIE database, and face verification experiments on labeled faces in the wild and YouTube Face databases, where face recognition rate and verification accuracy with Receiver Operating Characteristic curves are rendered. In addition, discussions of model parameters and connections with the existing methods are provided. These experiments demonstrate that our learning system works fairly well on handling pose variations.

  15. Neonates' responses to repeated exposure to a still face.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagy, Emese; Pilling, Karen; Watt, Rachel; Pal, Attila; Orvos, Hajnalka

    2017-01-01

    The main aims of the study were to examine whether human neonates' responses to communication disturbance modelled by the still-face paradigm were stable and whether their responses were affected by their previous experience with the still-face paradigm. The still face procedure, as a laboratory model of interpersonal stress, was administered repeatedly, twice, to 84 neonates (0 to 4 day olds), with a delay of an average of 1.25 day. Frame-by-frame analysis of the frequency and duration of gaze, distressed face, crying, sleeping and sucking behaviours showed that the procedure was stressful to them both times, that is, the still face effect was stable after repeated administration and newborns consistently responded to such nonverbal violation of communication. They averted their gaze, showed distress and cried more during the still-face phase in both the first and the second administration. They also showed a carry-over effect in that they continued to avert their gaze and displayed increased distress and crying in the first reunion period, but their gaze behaviour changed with experience, in the second administration. While in the first administration the babies continued averting their gaze even after the stressful still-face phase was over, this carry-over effect disappeared in the second administration, and the babies significantly increased their gaze following the still-face phase. After excluding explanations of fatigue, habituation and random effects, a self-other regulatory model is discussed as a possible explanation for this pattern.

  16. Developmental Reorganization of the Core and Extended Face Networks Revealed by Global Functional Connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xu; Zhu, Qi; Song, Yiying; Liu, Jia

    2017-08-28

    Prior studies on development of functional specialization in human brain mainly focus on age-related increases in regional activation and connectivity among regions. However, a few recent studies on the face network demonstrate age-related decrease in face-specialized activation in the extended face network (EFN), in addition to increase in activation in the core face network (CFN). Here we used a voxel-based global brain connectivity approach to investigate whether development of the face network exhibited both increase and decrease in network connectivity. We found the voxel-wise resting-state functional connectivity (FC) within the CFN increased with age in bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus, suggesting the integration of the CFN during development. Interestingly, the FC of the voxels in the EFN to the right fusiform face area and occipital face area decreased with age, suggesting that the CFN segregated from the EFN during development. Moreover, the age-related connectivity in the CFN was related to behavioral performance in face processing. Overall, our study demonstrated developmental reorganization of the face network achieved by both integration within the CFN and segregation of the CFN from the EFN, which may account for the simultaneous increases and decreases in neural activation during the development of the face network. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Lip colour affects perceived sex typicality and attractiveness of human faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephen, Ian D; McKeegan, Angela M

    2010-01-01

    The luminance contrast between facial features and facial skin is greater in women than in men, and women's use of make-up enhances this contrast. In black-and-white photographs, increased luminance contrast enhances femininity and attractiveness in women's faces, but reduces masculinity and attractiveness in men's faces. In Caucasians, much of the contrast between the lips and facial skin is in redness. Red lips have been considered attractive in women in geographically and temporally diverse cultures, possibly because they mimic vasodilation associated with sexual arousal. Here, we investigate the effects of lip luminance and colour contrast on the attractiveness and sex typicality (masculinity/femininity) of human faces. In a Caucasian sample, we allowed participants to manipulate the colour of the lips in colour-calibrated face photographs along CIELab L* (light--dark), a* (red--green), and b* (yellow--blue) axes to enhance apparent attractiveness and sex typicality. Participants increased redness contrast to enhance femininity and attractiveness of female faces, but reduced redness contrast to enhance masculinity of men's faces. Lip blueness was reduced more in female than male faces. Increased lightness contrast enhanced the attractiveness of both sexes, and had little effect on perceptions of sex typicality. The association between lip colour contrast and attractiveness in women's faces may be attributable to its association with oxygenated blood perfusion indicating oestrogen levels, sexual arousal, and cardiac and respiratory health.

  18. Configuration perception and face memory, and face context effects in developmental prosopagnosia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huis in 't Veld, Elisabeth; Van den Stock, Jan; de Gelder, Beatrice

    2012-01-01

    This study addresses two central and controversial issues in developmental prosopagnosia (DP), configuration- versus feature-based face processing and the influence of affective information from either facial or bodily expressions on face recognition. A sample of 10 DPs and 10 controls were tested with a previously developed face and object recognition and memory battery (Facial Expressive Action Stimulus Test, FEAST), a task measuring the influence of emotional faces and bodies on face identity matching (Face-Body Compound task), and an emotionally expressive face memory task (Emotional Face Memory task, FaMe-E). We show that DPs were impaired in upright, but not inverted, face matching but they performed at the level of controls on part-to-whole matching. Second, DPs showed impaired memory for both neutral and emotional faces and scored within the normal range on the Face-Body Compound task. Third, configural perception but not feature-based processing was significantly associated with memory performance. Taken together the results indicate that DPs have a deficit in configural processing at the perception stage that may underlie the memory impairment.

  19. The Face-to-Face Light Detection Paradigm: A New Methodology for Investigating Visuospatial Attention Across Different Face Regions in Live Face-to-Face Communication Settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Laura A; Malloy, Daniel M; Cone, John M; Hendrickson, David L

    2010-01-01

    We introduce a novel paradigm for studying the cognitive processes used by listeners within interactive settings. This paradigm places the talker and the listener in the same physical space, creating opportunities for investigations of attention and comprehension processes taking place during interactive discourse situations. An experiment was conducted to compare results from previous research using videotaped stimuli to those obtained within the live face-to-face task paradigm. A headworn apparatus is used to briefly display LEDs on the talker's face in four locations as the talker communicates with the participant. In addition to the primary task of comprehending speeches, participants make a secondary task light detection response. In the present experiment, the talker gave non-emotionally-expressive speeches that were used in past research with videotaped stimuli. Signal detection analysis was employed to determine which areas of the face received the greatest focus of attention. Results replicate previous findings using videotaped methods.

  20. Supporting Middle School Students Whose Parents Are Deployed: Challenges and Strategies for Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Brenda

    2013-01-01

    Middle school students from military families face unique challenges, especially when their parents are deployed. Among the challenges they experience are frequent relocations; issues that affect academic achievement; uncertainty; and changes in roles, responsibilities, and relationships at home. Reunification involves issues of the returning…