Are Avid Readers Lurking in Your Language Arts Classroom? Myths of the Avid Adolescent Reader

This article describes a pilot study conducted with 10 identified avid adolescent readers who completed the Adolescent Motivation to Read Profile (AMRP) (Pitcher, Albright, DeLaney, Walker, Seunarienesingh, & Moggie, 2007) that includes both a survey to determine students’ self-concept and value of reading and an interview that sheds light on what motivates them to read as well as yields specific information about their reading habits. The researchers use this data to challenge current myths regarding avid readers and to suggest that teachers look more deeply at the types of literacy experiences they offer in their classroom in order to draw these readers into their classes and enhance in-school reading

The Association between Sexual Health and Physical, Mental and Social Health in Adolescent Women

Purpose Developmental models link sexual well-being to physical, mental/emotional, and social well-being, yet little empirical literature evaluates these relationships in adolescents. Better understanding of how and when sexuality complements other aspects of health may yield important points to enhance existing health education and prevention efforts. Methods Data were drawn from a 10-year longitudinal cohort study of sexual relationships and sexual behavior among adolescent women (N = 387; 14–17 years at enrollment). Sexual health data were drawn from quarterly partner-specific interviews and were linked to physical, mental/emotional, and social health information in annual questionnaires. Random intercept, mixed effects linear, ordinal logistic, or binary logistic regression were used to estimate the influence of sexual health on health and well-being outcomes (Stata, v.23, StataCorp, College Station, TX). All models controlled for participant age and race/ethnicity. Results Higher sexual health was significantly associated with less frequent nicotine and substance use, lower self-reported depression, lower thrill seeking, higher self-esteem, having fewer friends who use substances, higher religiosity, better social integration, lower frequency of delinquent behavior and crime, and more frequent community group membership. Sexual health was not associated with the number of friends who used cigarettes. Conclusions Positive sexually related experiences in romantic relationships during adolescence may complement physical, mental/emotional, and social health. Addressing specific aspects of healthy sexual development during clinical encounters could dually help primary prevention and health education address other common adolescent health issues

The Law Review Article Selection Process: Results from a National Study

The student-edited law review has been a much criticized institution. Many commentators have expressed their belief that students are unqualified to determine which articles should be published in which journals, but these discussions have been largely based on anecdotal evidence of how journals make publication decisions. It was against that backdrop that we undertook a national survey of law reviews in an attempt to determine how student editors responsible for making publication decisions went about their task. This article compiles the results of that survey, which received 191 responses from 163 different journals. We analyzed 56 factors that influence the selection process and then grouped similar items together to form 17 constructs using factor analysis. Finally, we disaggregated the results to determine whether the results were significantly different based on the prestige of the journals involved. While many of our results confirm what has been widely assumed to be true, there are also some surprising findings. We found, for example, that Articles Editors seek to publish articles from well-known and widely-respected authors. It appears, however, that editors do not assume that prestigious authors produce the best scholarship, but instead they pursue the work of well-known authors because it can increase their journals\u27 prestige within the legal academic community. The survey reveals that editors are not nearly as likely to seek out articles dealing with hot or trendy topics as some commentators have assumed, and that author diversity plays almost no role in the article selection process. We hope that our study will provide some structure to the ongoing debate about how best to use students in the law review publication process and will allow a more informed consideration of whether students are sufficiently well-trained to evaluate articles and whether they are using the proper criteria

The Law Review Article Selection Process: Results from a National Study

The student-edited law review has been a much criticized institution. Many commentators have expressed their belief that students are unqualified to determine which articles should be published in which journals, but these discussions have been largely based on anecdotal evidence of how journals make publication decisions. It was against that backdrop that we undertook a national survey of law reviews in an attempt to determine how student editors responsible for making publication decisions went about their task. This article compiles the results of that survey, which received 191 responses from 163 different journals. We analyzed 56 factors that influence the selection process and then grouped similar items together to form 17 constructs using factor analysis. Finally, we disaggregated the results to determine whether the results were significantly different based on the prestige of the journals involved. While many of our results confirm what has been widely assumed to be true, there are also some surprising findings. We found, for example, that Articles Editors seek to publish articles from well-known and widely-respected authors. It appears, however, that editors do not assume that prestigious authors produce the best scholarship, but instead they pursue the work of well-known authors because it can increase their journals\u27 prestige within the legal academic community. The survey reveals that editors are not nearly as likely to seek out articles dealing with hot or trendy topics as some commentators have assumed, and that author diversity plays almost no role in the article selection process. We hope that our study will provide some structure to the ongoing debate about how best to use students in the law review publication process and will allow a more informed consideration of whether students are sufficiently well-trained to evaluate articles and whether they are using the proper criteria

Improving measurements of SF6 for the study of atmospheric transport and emissions

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a potent greenhouse gas and useful atmospheric tracer. Measurements of SF6 on global and regional scales are necessary to estimate emissions and to verify or examine the performance of atmospheric transport models. Typical precision for common gas chromatographic methods with electron capture detection (GC-ECD) is 1–2%. We have modified a common GC-ECD method to achieve measurement precision of 0.5% or better. Global mean SF6 measurements were used to examine changes in the growth rate of SF6 and corresponding SF6 emissions. Global emissions and mixing ratios from 2000–2008 are consistent with recently published work. More recent observations show a 10% decline in SF6 emissions in 2008–2009, which seems to coincide with a decrease in world economic output. This decline was short-lived, as the global SF6 growth rate has recently increased to near its 2007–2008 maximum value of 0.30±0.03 pmol mol−1 (ppt) yr−1 (95% C.L.)

COPROLITES FROM CALVERT CLIFFS: MIOCENE FECAL PELLETS AND BURROWED CROCODILIAN DROPPINGS FROM THE CHESAPEAKE GROUP OF MARYLAND, U.S.A.

New finds of remarkable coprolites (fossilized feces) are here reported from the famous Miocene marine sediments of the Chesapeake Group exposed along Calvert Cliffs (Maryland, U.S.A.).  Although vertebrate coprolites have been described from these deposits, here we provide the first description of tiny invertebrate fecal pellets. Thus far, these fecal pellets have only been found in the upper Miocene (Tortonian) St. Marys Formation. The micro-coprolites represent the coprulid ichnospecies Coprulus oblongus. The fecal pellets are found in small clusters or strings of dozens to masses of many hundreds. Pellets range in size from approximately 0.4 – 2.0 mm wide by 1.0 – 5.0 mm long, and range in color from gray to brownish black. Their length/diameter ratio is always very nearly 2. These coprulids have been found in a variety of Miocene fossils/concretions including a uranoscopid neurocranium, naticid gastropod, bivalve shells, barnacle tests, and in pellet-backfilled sinuous burrows through sediment. Because the fecal pellets are often found in tiny spaces or spaces thought to be inaccessible to shelled invertebrates, the coprulids are attributed to small and soft-bodied polychaetes or other annelids. Some coprolites attributed to crocodilians from the lower-middle Miocene Calvert Formation were tunneled into, presumably the result of coprophagy, by some unknown kind of organism(s). These compound trace fossils are in the form of burrows that excavate the coprolites, the sides of which are sculptured by scratch/gouge marks

Tectonic significance of Late Paleozoic deformation in the Cape George Peninsula, Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia

Late Paleozoic deformation of the Cape George Peninsula, Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia, provides information on post-accretionary fault movements associated with waning stages of Appalachian orogenic activity. Anomalously intense brittle to ductile deformation of the low-grade Late Paleozoic rocks of the peninsula occurred along east-west shear zones in a ca. 4 km-wide belt bounded by the NE-trending Hollow and Greendale faults. Deformation adjacent to, and between, these two faults resulted in brecciation, folding and thrusting, the development of slickensides on major dislocation surfaces, the local development of S-C fabrics and stretching lineations defined by elongate pebbles, and/or the production of extensional fractures and veins. The data suggest dextral and subordinate thrust components of movement along the east-west shear zones. Deformation is attributed to dextrally oblique compression between the bounding Hollow and Greendale faults along which significant reverse displacements are proposed on the basis of fault geometry and kinematics. The Cape George Peninsula is interpreted as a "popup" structure between these back-to-back oblique-slip reverse faults and is considered to occupy a strongly transpressive step-over zone between them. The east-west shear zones, which record dextral transpressive motion and steepen towards the north in a positive half-flower structure configuration, are parallel to Reidel R-shears of the shear fracture array and are interpreted to be transfer faults within the step-over zone along which oblique slip with dextral and reverse components of motion was transferred from the Hollow Fault to the Greendale Fault. Development of the regional stress regime required by these fault kinematics is consistent with coeval post-accretionary dextral motion between the Meguma and Avalon composite terranes along the east-west Cobcquid-Chedabucto fault system. RÉSUMÉ La déformation du Paléozoique tandif de la péninsule dc Cap George, dans les hautes terres d'Antigonish en Nouvelle-Écosse, fournit des informations sur les mouvements de failles post-accrétionaires associés aux stades terminaux de l'activité orogénique appalachienne. Une déformation fragile à ductile anormalement intense des roches du Paléozoique supérieur de faible grade s'est produite le long de zones de cisaillement est-ouest dans une ceinture d'environ 4 km de largeur limited par les failles de Hollow et de Greendale d'orientation nord-est. La déformation adjacente et entre ces failles a résulté en de la bélchification, du plissement et du chevauchement, le développement de slickensides sur des surfaces de dislocation majeures, le développement local de fabriques C-S et de linéations d'étirement définies par des cailloux allongés, et/ou la production de fractures et de veines d'extension. Les données suggèrent des composantes de mouvement dextres et, dans une moindre mesure, de chevauchement le long des zones de cisaillement est-ouest. La déformation est attributée à une compression dextre oblique entre les failles limitrophes de Hollow et de Greendale le long desquelles des deplacements inverses importants sont proposés sur la base de la géométrie et de la cinémalique des failles. La péninsule de Cap George est interprét6e comme une structure d'extrusion verticale entre ces deux failles obliques a mouvement inverse, dos à dos, et est considérée comme occupant une zone de recouvrement fortement transpressive entre elles. Les zones de cisaillement est-ouest, qui montrent un mouvement de transpression dextre et deviennent plus abruples vers le nord en une configuration de demie "flower structure" positive, sont parallèles aux riedels synlhétiques du réseau de fractures de cisaillement et sont interprétées comme étant des failles de transfert à l'intérieur de la zone de transfert suivant lesquelles un mouvement oblique avec des composantes de mouvement dextre et inverse furent transferées de la faille de Hollow à la faille de Greendale. Le développement du régime de contrainte régional requis par ces cindmatiques de failles est en accord avec un mouvement post-accrétionaire dextre entre les terrains de Meguma et d'Avalon composite le long du systeme de faille est-ouest de Cobcquid-Chedabucto. [Traduit par la rédaction