Cultural Differences in the Levels of Rewards Between Adolescents from America, Australia, Tanzania, Denmark, Honduras, Korea, and Spain

The intent of this study is to determine what items are reinforcing for high school students from different regions of the world including America, Australia, Tanzania, Denmark, Honduras, Korea, and Spain. Additionally, the researchers sought to determine if there is a difference in the levels of rewards between individuals from America and individuals from these other countries. Seven hundred and fifty high school students from seven countries participated in this study. The only requirement for inclusion in the study was current enrollment in high school in their native country. Subject ages ranged from 12 to 19 years, with a mean of 15.52 years. Students were administered a 63-item survey of reward preference called the SORT-2. The SORT-2 is in English (SORT-2-EV), Spanish (SORT-2-SV), and Korean (SORT-2-KV) versions. Multiple between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on data reflecting the effects of region. The ANOVA was significant for region in 24 of the 25 items in the sports domain, 22 of the 30 items in the activity domain, and in all of the eight items in the school activity domain. The bivariate analysis indicated that participants from America were most different from those in Honduras, Tanzania, and Spain. The least amount of difference was noted in comparisons with Australia and Denmark

Syntactic ambiguity resolution in dyslexia: An examination of cognitive factors underlying eye movement differences and comprehension failures

This study examined eye movements and comprehension of temporary syntactic ambiguities in individuals with dyslexia, as few studies have focused on sentence-level comprehension in dyslexia. We tested 50 participants with dyslexia and 50 typically-developing controls, in order to investigate (1) whether dyslexics have difficulty revising temporary syntactic misinterpretations and (2) underlying cognitive factors (i.e. working memory and processing speed) associated with eye movement differences and comprehension failures. In the sentence comprehension task, participants read subordinate-main structures that were either ambiguous or unambiguous, and we also manipulated the type of verb contained in the subordinate clause (i.e. reflexive or optionally transitive). Results showed a main effect of group on comprehension, in which individuals with dyslexia showed poorer comprehension than typically-developing readers. In addition, participants with dyslexia showed longer total reading times on the disambiguating region of syntactically ambiguous sentences. With respect to cognitive factors, working memory was more associated with group differences than was processing speed. Conclusions focus on sentence-level syntactic processing issues in dyslexia (a previously under-researched area) and the relationship between online and offline measures of syntactic ambiguity resolution

Dynamics of ammonia oxidizing archaea and bacteria populations and contributions to soil nitrification potentials

It is well known that the ratio of ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) ranges widely in soils, but no data exist on what might influence this ratio, its dynamism, or how changes in relative abundance influences the potential contributions of AOA and AOB to soil nitrification. By sampling intensively from cropped-to-fallowed and fallowed-to-cropped phases of a two year wheat/fallow cycle, and adjacent uncultivated long term fallowed land over a 15-month period in 2010 and 2011, evidence was obtained for seasonal and cropping phase effects on the soil nitrification potential (NP), and on the relative contributions of AOA and AOB to the NP that recovers after acetylene inactivation in the presence and absence of bacterial protein synthesis inhibitors. AOB community composition changed significantly (P ≤ 0.0001) in response to cropping phase, and there were both seasonal and cropping phase effects on the amoA gene copy numbers of AOA and AOB. Our study showed that the AOA:AOB shifts were generated by a combination of different phenomenon: an increase in AOA amoA abundance in unfertilized treatments, compared with their AOA counterparts in the N-fertilized treatment; a larger population of AOB under the N-fertilized treatment compared with the AOB community under unfertilized treatments; and better overall persistence of AOA than AOB in the unfertilized treatments. These data illustrate the complexity of the factors that likely influence the relative contributions of AOA and AOB to nitrification under the various combinations of soil conditions and NH₄⁺-availability that exist in the field.Keywords: ammonia, soil, archaea, nitrification, bacteri

An Examination of Behavioral Momentum in Girls\u27 High School Volleyball

The metaphor of behavioral momentum has been studied extensively by researchers with regard to its application in various research topics. A majority of the research effort has been spent on explaining compliance issues in a clinical setting. This study focused on the possible application of behavioral momentum in sports as well as exploring differing viewpoints on what constitutes momentum in sports. The action of a volleyball serve was analyzed to determine if the duration and velocity of successful serves could be a way to show behavioral momentum. Additionally, momentum disruption for consecutive serves was also examined by offering a timeout during a succession of serves

Beginning Farmers in North Dakota

A comparison between the severity of 1930s and 1980s North Dakota farming is cited. Study is given into key factors and demographics that led new entrepreneurs into farming during that changing time such as off-farm employment opportunities