The Four-Phase Model Of Interest Development: Addressing Individual Differences

Although there are various approaches to the conceptualization of interest, here we address that of the four-phase model of interest development (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). Interest is universal as all humans have such experiences, and it has physiological roots. Interest also is individually varying since the triggering of interest is influenced by genetics, personal characteristics, interactions with other people, and the design of the environment. Given the importance of interest to engagement and learning, individual differences warrant serious consideration. Furthermore, it is essential for educators (e.g., teachers, parents), to understand that interest: (a) is malleable and may be supported to develop; (b) has fluctuations that are normal; (c) has a long-range linear trajectory, and (d) is physiologically hardwired, and therefore any typically functioning individuals can be expected to develop interest. Interest is critical for learning, as is acknowledgement of individual differences

Gold, Manuscripts, and Misunderstanding: The Forgotten Intellectual Wealth of Timbuktu

This article re-examines Timbuktu’s legacy, challenging European myths that imagined the city as a hidden African “El Dorado” while overlooking its intellectual wealth. From the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, Timbuktu thrived as a hub of trade, religion, and scholarship, home to mosques, libraries, and networks of learning that drew scholars from across the Islamic world. Manuscripts on theology, law, medicine, and science circulated widely, placing the city at the heart of West Africa’s intellectual life. Yet European explorers and mapmakers, influenced by accounts like those of Leo Africanus, recast Timbuktu as a treasure-laden city of gold. This obsession, reinforced by distorted cartography and imperial rivalries, overshadowed its scholastic traditions. Nineteenth-century explorers, from Alexander Laing to René Caillié, expressed disillusion when its modest architecture failed to match the myth. By analyzing chronicles, travelogues, maps, and modern preservation efforts, this paper restores Timbuktu’s reputation as a vibrant center of learning and reclaims its place in the intellectual heritage of the world

Bodies as Battlefields: Gendered Violence during the Russian Pogroms

This paper explores how sexual violence during the Russian Civil War, particularly perpetrated by the White Army, was used as a ubiquitous tool for genocide against Jewish women. From 1918 to 1922, Jewish Women in the Russian Empire faced pervasive sexual violence during the pogroms: periods of mass violence and riots targeting Jews. This wave of violence led to displacement, immigration, and a profound impact on culture, reshaping the Jewish community forever and serving as a driving factor in the Jewish diaspora. Previous scholarship fails to critically engage with sexual violence as a unique tool in itself, as opposed to a byproduct of mass violence. This paper fills that critical gap in research, arguing that sexual violence targets identity and community based on testimony from Jewish women, doctors, and children

Theoretical Underpinnings Of Therapeutic Practice After Modernism

This chapter provides a historical overview of the inception and evolution of postmodern ideas as they have informed the field of psychotherapy. While postmodernism as an intellectual stance predates its influence in therapeutic contexts, the 1980s and 1990s can be identified as revolutionary times for theorists and practitioners in the field. During that period, challenges to the modernist assumptions of objectivity, Truth, and universality were in full force in the humanities and social sciences. These dialogues opened the door to a new range of therapeutic theories and practices. This chapter traces the resulting trajectory from an initial therapeutic focus on language, to explorations in relational process, and then to the location of therapeutic resources. Finally, the potentials of postmodern therapies to adequately address the challenges of the 21st century are considered. Among the issues of focal importance are the challenge of systemic threat and the rudderless future invited by multiplicity

The Enthalpy Of Formation Of Acetylenes And Aromatic Nitro Compounds For A Group Contribution Method With “Chemical Accuracy”

In this paper we provide the Group Contribution parameters for acetylenes and aromatic nitro compounds fitting with a recently developed Group Contribution method with chemical accuracy (1 kcal/mol) for the heat of formation of organics. These additional parameters widen the applicability of the Group Contribution method. We also provide further G4 quantum calculated values as reference when no experimental data are available and compare to previously reported G4 data

Experimentally Induced Sexual Behavior In Male Gray Treefrogs Activates The HPG But Not The HPI Axis

While many studies have established how hormones modulate behavior, experiments that manipulate a behavior and quantify its hormonal consequences are rarer. Frog sexual behavior presents an opportunity to control a discrete behavior and observe its secretory consequences. Male frogs clasp females (amplexus) prior to gamete release. In the wild, amplexed males have endogenously higher gonadal and interrenal steroids. Here, we used Cope\u27s gray treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) to experimentally test the hypothesis that the behavioral act of amplexus causes these increased circulating hormones. We quantified levels of testosterone, estradiol, and corticosterone after 90 min in three treatment groups: unpaired males that were given access to a female and allowed to enter amplexus (“amplexus induced”), males in naturally amplexed pairs that were separated from their mate (“amplexus terminated”), and unpaired males that remained unpaired (“control”). Testosterone and estradiol were elevated in the amplexus induced group relative to males in the amplexus terminated and control groups. We did not observe any differences in corticosterone levels across treatment groups. These results suggest the behavioral act of amplexus activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, but not the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal axis. This study provides experimental evidence of a discrete behavior rapidly initiating hormonal changes

Western Mansions in the Gardens of Perfect Brightness, Another History of High Qing Sino-European exchanges

The Gardens of Perfect Brightness, the favorite residence of Chinese Emperors in the High Qing era (1683-1799), held mysteries that will remain forever concealed from the public eye after French and British imperialist forces looted it and burned it beyond repair during the Second Opium War (1856-1860). Behind the doors of the secret garden, scarcely open to anyone but the emperor, his wives, and servants, worked European artists and scientists. Most of them were Jesuit missionaries who served the emperor in the hope of gaining his favor and support for the spread of Christianity in China. This paper aims to explain the paradox that arose when the Qianlong Emperor (r.1735-1796), otherwise critical of the Christian faith and of foreigners in general, ordered Jesuits to undertake the grandest project a Qing Emperor ever entrusted to Europeans: building European-style gardens and palaces in the Gardens of Perfect Brightness. With reference to English, French, and Chinese-language sources, this paper argues that the construction of Western Palaces was made possible by extraordinary circumstances, which comprised the emperor’s secret appeal for European art and his unexpected trust in the Jesuit missionaries’ ability to meet his expectations

Generic References To Gender Predict Essentialism And Stereotyping Even When They Express Counter-Stereotypic Ideas

Gender essentialist and stereotypical beliefs emerge early in childhood, even though parents rarely discuss essentialist ideas with young children and often try to communicate egalitarian messages. Here we considered that parents’ generic references to gender, which subtly convey that gender reflects a natural kind, could contribute to the transmission of these beliefs even when they express counter-stereotypic ideas. In this preregistered study, we used unmoderated remote research methods to record 192 parent–child dyads (children ages 3–5) talking about gender and assess children’s gender essentialism and stereotypes. Parents’ generic references to gender predicted children’s essentialism and stereotyping, even when this language expressed neutral and counter-stereotypic content. These findings suggest that highlighting specific counter-stereotypical examples (e.g., “That girl is great at soccer!”) might be more effective than counter-stereotypical generic sentences (e.g., “Girls are good at soccer too!”) at mitigating gender essentialism and stereotyping in childhood