Showing papers by "Deakin University published in 1983"

Stereotypic images of the scientist: The draw‐a‐scientist test

Abstract: The present work intends to present the analysis of representations referring science and scientist of children who are part of a Junior Scientific Initiation project. The instruments used for the data collection were questionnaires and drawings, in which the analysis of this study were carried out from the Content Analysis the Laurence Bardin. With the results it was observed that the three students involved in the research have some stereotyped representations both in relation to the knowledge identified as science and in relation to the profile of scientist. It is expected, with the study, it is hoped that teachers will reflect on the information and activities they propose to students in science classes, being of great importance the previous knowledge of the students on these representations. Besides that, should teachers consider the fundamental Scientific Initiation Junior so that the students can express and extend their representations in relation to science and scientist, it is necessary that the school context modifies the ways of approaching subjects related to science and to scientists

An invited article: Phonological recoding and reading acquisition

Abstract: Phonological recoding is commonly viewed as a back-up mechanism when word identification using the visual pathway fails. A second more important role for phonological recoding is as a self-teaching mechanism by which the child learns to identify words visually. Although phonological recoding may play a minor role in skilled adult reading, it plays a critical role in helping the child become a skilled reader. This article reviews the evidence relevant to these issues. The first section examines evidence on the role of phonological recoding in the development of word identification skills and reading comprehension. The next section reviews evidence showing that children with reading disabilities often have deficits in basic phonological processing skills. The third section deals with the nature of the reading problem in such children which, it is argued, is consistent with the proposed developmental analysis of the importance of phonological recoding in learning to read. The article concludes with a discussion of the teaching implications of these conclusions.

Stripping voltammetric determination of selenium in biological materials by direct calibration

Abstract: Speclflc and accurate determlnatlon of selenium In blologlcal materials can be made by strlpplng voltammetrlc techniques following ion-exchange separation of the element from the bulk of the acid-dlgest matrix. The use of an anion-exchange method enables direct quantltation of selenium In the sample from callbratlon curves rather than by the normally recom- mended tlme-consuming standard addition method. The separation method descrlbed removes interferences usually encountered from other metal ions and also enables precon- centratlon of the analyte. Differentlal pulse anodic strlpplng vonammetry at a rotatlng gold disk electrode and dlfferentlal pulse cathodic strlpplng voltammetry at a hanging mercury drop electrode gave comparable llmlts of detection for sele- nium. However the latter approach was adopted because of Its inherently greater reproducibility. Appilcatlon of the me- thod to a range of blologlcal standard reference materlais proved to be very satlsfactory and It Is currently being used for blomedical studies. Selenlum concentratlons less than 1 ng/mL can be determlned by this method.

Early reading achievement, oral language ability, and a child's home background

Abstract: The relationships between early reading achievement, oral language ability, and the home were studied in a group of 543 school-entry age children. Using hierarchical multiple regression it was found that socioeconomic status was associated with both reading achievement and oral language ability. However, this association occurred largely because socioeconomic status was associated with educational processes in the home which contribute more directly to early achievement. In addition home educational processes were found to contribute to early reading achievement primarily by providing oral language skills and to a lesser extent by providing specific reading skills. The inadequacy of using socioeconomic status to investigate the relationship between the home and school achievement was discussed.

The Spatial Characteristics of Tactile Form Perception

Abstract: The perceived orientation of a raised letterform indenting the skin of the finger reverses (from normal to its mirror-image) when the letter is held in contact with the finger and both are rotated through 180 degrees about the axis of the finger. Thus, though the pattern of stimulated skin receptors remains constant, the perceived orientation of the letter reverses. On the basis of this observation it is proposed that tactual perception of object form involves assignment of a spatial coordinate system within which the patterns of skin stimulation are interpreted. In experiments in which the orientations of letters and subjects are systematically varied within the environment, the occurrence or nonoccurrence of reversal in perceived orientation of letters has been used to investigate the origin of the proposed spatial coordinate system; that is, whether it is assigned with respect to the observer ( egocentrically ) or with respect to the environment ( geocentrically ). The results indicate that the assignment of coordinates is determined by both egocentric and geocentric factors. It is proposed that the reversal phenomena observed in these experiments, and in experiments of others which involve drawing characters on the skin, are consistent with Gibson's proposal that it is object form which is directly perceived, but that this involves interpretation of the patterns of skin stimulation within a framework of spatial coordinates.

Simultaneous Determination of Cadmium, Cobalt, Copper, Lead, Mercury and Nickel in Zinc Sulfate Plant Electrolyte Using Liquid Chromatography with Electrochemical and Spectrophotometric Detection

Abstract: The current efficiency (cost) of electrolytic production of high purity metallic zinc from zinc sulfate plant electrolyte is critically dependent on the concentration of a number of trace elements. The matrix, containing a very large concentration excess of zinc sulfate in concentrated sulfuric acid presents difficulties for determining low concentrations of other metals with many analytical methods. In this work it is shown that Cd, Co, Cu, Pb, Hg and Ni impurities may be simultaneously determined at concentrations less than or equal to 1 ppm using a combination of solvent extraction, high performance liquid chromatography and electrochemical or spectrophotometrie detection. Solvent extraction utilizes the formation of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate complexes, which after removal of zinc complexes and excess ligand on an anion exchange column can be separated on a C-18 reverse phase chromatographic column and detected by UV/Visible spectrophotometrie or electrochemical detection. Other combinations...

The Career Patterns and Work Attitudes of Plateaued and Non‐Plateaued Managers

Abstract: Although we all like to believe that there are opportunities for everyone to “make it” in organisations, the nature of hierarchies makes this impossible. Because of the pyramid‐like structure of all work organisations, the majority of middle managers will not be able to reach the highest levels in their organisations. During the 1950s and 1960s, when most organisations were expanding, the extent of the problem was not apparent. However, during the more recessionary times that have prevailed since the 1970s, the proportion of managers who have become “stalled” at the middle levels in the hierarchy has increased dramatically? According to Connor and Fielden and Levinson, it is between the ages of 40–45 that managers typically experience this kind of cessation in their movement upward in the organisation. According to Hunt, “Most middle managers will remain where they are, in the middle, oiling the machinery of our work organizations in what are, essentially, repetitive tasks. And for some this vision will have a time span of 20–30 years” (p. 10).

Estimation of Total Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Environmental Samples by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography

Abstract: Many of the harmful effects of oil pollution can be attributed to the release of toxic aromatic hydrocarbons. This paper describes a rapid, high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the estimation of total aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental samples. The method employs an amine column to separate mixtures of aromatics into groups of compounds with a similar spectrophotometric response. An estimate for total aromatics is then derived by comparing the response of each group with the response of suitable reference compounds. Since results must be expressed in terms of these reference compounds, the method is semi-quantitative. However, values derived for total aromatics in refinery effluents, extracts of the mussel Mytilus edulis and two petroleum oils agreed well with those given by more cumbersome traditional methods.

Formation of β‐phenylethylaminoalanine in protein foods heated in the presence of added amine

Abstract: The reaction of phenylethylamine with a variety of protein-containing foods has been demonstrated. The reaction resulted in the formation of a α-N-substituted diaminopropionic-acid derivative, DL-3-(N-phenylethylamino)-alanine (PEAA), presumably by a pathway analogous to the formation of lysinoalanine. PEAA was detected in three cheeses, two soya products and a concentrated yeast extract after heating with added amine at various pH values. It was also found in a cheese which had been subjected to a simulated grilling procedure. Of considerable interest was the detection of this novel amino acid in foods heated with amine below pH 7. We had earlier proposed that PEAA may be produced by a mechanism similar to that attributed to the formation of lysinoalanine which is often found in alkali-treated foods. This type of reaction, however, would not be expected to occur at acidic pH and the production of PEAA may involve an alternative mechanism. Experiments with tyramine and histamine indicated that this reaction may occur with a variety of biogenic amines.

Educational Leadership and Staff Development: Stop the Train(ing), I Want to Get Off.

Abstract: This writer makes a plea to reconsider the nature of re search and training in educational ad ministration so that it can better fit the world of practicing school admin istrators.

Motives and emotions in a general learning system

Abstract: The relationship between motives, emotions and learning in the design of intelligent systems has received relatively little consideration to date. Clarification of the relationship involves tackling fundamental questions such as the survival value or adaptive function of motives and emotions in intelligent systems, the nature of motivational and emotional processes which are features of 'innate' endowment, the learning of additional motives and emotions as a result of environmental interaction, and the results of the influence of motives and emotions on learning processes and, conversely, the effect of learning processes on the nature of motives and emotions.

Tilley and Popper's alleged historicism

Abstract: ion from whole societies. I comment now on Tilley’s view that Popper’s pmblem-solving schema (PI-TT-EE-P2) is a historicist law. The ’message of Popper’s later work’ he tells us is to ’engage in, precisely that historicist thinking which is fated to be unsuccessful’ (p. 65). The point, I take it, is that Pbpper’s schema licenses unconditional prophecies. But this mistakes the purpose of the schema which is explanatory not predictive, and certainly not prophetic. As a basis for prediction it is next to useless, for it only conveys that if tentative responses to problems are inadequate then there will be new emergent problems. Precisely because these problems are emergent the schema is unable to predict their content. A further complaint against Tilley is that he completely overlooks the fact that Popper’s recent evolutionary epistemology coexists with, and does not supersede, the account of prediction that he gave in The Logic of Scientific Discovery and which informed his critique of historicism. Hence, in the opening essay of Objective Knowledge,,after referring to the ’regularities which rule the universe and ... our surroundings’ (p. 11), Popper explains that the conjectures about those reguiarities whose conditional predictions ought to be preferred for practical purposes are the best-tested ones, those with the highest degree of corrobomtion (ibid., pp. 21-22; and cf. Popper 1974, pp. 1025ff.). In conclusion, Pbpper’s theory of emergence is in no way suggestive of historicism. Whatever the faults of Popper’s thinking, capitulation to historicism

Parameter Stationarity in the Distribution of Stock Market Returns

Abstract: Population parameters in the distributions of security returns are examined for stationarity. Mean returns are found to be stationary over a sixteen year period. Variances, beta coefficients and covariances between pairs of securities can be taken as stationary in five year periods but not for sixteen years.

Note on Prediction of Managerial Effectiveness from the California Psychological Inventory

Abstract: It is generally agreed that managerial success or failure depends to a large extent on personality factors that are determined early in one's life ( 1). However, recent reviews have concluded that few attempts to isolate such factors have been successful ( 3 ) . The present study is an attempt to establish the validity of one such attempt that may prove to be the exception, the 206-item managerial key of the California Psychological Inventory, developed by Goodstein and Schrader ( 2 ) . Two equivalent forms of the inventory were completed by a sample of 62 managers holding relatively senior positions in large public companies in South Africa In addition, the inventory was completed by a control sample of 124 nonmanagerial employees drawn at random from the same companies. The over-all performance of each subject in the managerial sample was rated at the same time by their immediate superiors on a 7-point raring scale, ranging from 1 (very ineffective) to 7 (very effective). The managerial sample obtained a significantly higher ( P < .01) mean score ( M = 608.7, SD = 19.7) than did the nonmanagerial sample ( M = 542.9, SD = 21.7). The correlation between inventory scores and performance ratings among the managerial sample was significantly positive ( 7 = .27, P < .05). The equivalent.forrn reliabiliries of the inventory were .74 for the rnanzgerial sample and .71 for the nonmanager~al sample. These results suggest that the managerial key of the California Psycholog~cal Inventory may be capable in some circumstances of identifying managerial potential. However, it should be noted these resulu suggest that only 10% of the variation in performance ratings can be ascribed to differences in the managerial keyed scores. Also, that the results may not generalize to groups of managers who are very different from those in the present study.