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NCKU International Students Made Dumplings and Aiyu Jelly

July 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

TAINAN, Taiwan–(Business Wire)–
International Students from George Mason High School, Emmanuel Christian School,
Centreville High School and Langley High School in Virginia and Naperville North
High School in Illinois, United States, made dumplings and Aiyu jelly on July
8th in College of Liberal Arts at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan,
Taiwan.

Chinese Language Center at National Cheng Kung University has prepared dumpling
ingredients and Aiyu seeds for the international students and accompanied
parents from United States to experience the local cultural, customs and
cuisines of Taiwan.

Students either put too much ingredients on the dough skin that made the skin
difficult to wrap or put too little ingredients that made the wrapped dumpling
flat. The students also used spoons to carefully scratch out the Aiyu seeds and
washed and messaged them in water to produce a slimy gel.

Sixteen-year-old Mary Williamson, from George Mason High School, expressed, “I
came to National Cheng Kung University because I wanted to get a scholarship for
college and at the end of this program we can get one. I believed it will help
me in college. Also, because I have never been to Tainan, it is another reason I
decided to come. I have made dumplings at home, but we made them differently. It
is an interesting experience to make it with classmates and friends. I am
enjoying my trip so far, it is really interesting to see the different cultures
and how people in Taiwan handle things differently than people in America. I am
also learning a lot in class, and it is very fun.”

Seventeen-year-old Katie Douthitt, also from George Mason High School, revealed,
“This is my second time making the dumplings, but I really like it. It is fun
because you can make different shapes with it. I made it last year when I went
to Beijing for a month. I really like the school here. It is a really large and
beautiful campus. I am enjoying the stay and the foods are really great. This is
my first time in Taiwan. I shall definitely come back next year, maybe in the
winter, when it is cooler.”

Seventeen-year-old Aleeya Ensign, from George Mason High School, too, said, “I
like cooking, so it is a lot of fun. I`ve never done anything like this style of
cooking before. The feeling of squeezing the seeds is quite weird. It is sticky
and tactile. But it is always interesting to try something that is new.”

The 2010 George Mason High School Summer Chinese Language Program, formed by 12
students between 15-year-old and 18-year-old, is a three-week program from July
3rd to July 21st. The curriculum includes language classes, culture classes,
language exchange and field trips.

National Cheng Kung University
Crystal Chen
News Center
Tel: +886-6-275-7575 Ext. 50042
Fax: +886-6-238-9919
E-Mail: crystal@mail.ncku.edu.tw

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: BEIJING, business wire, Chinese Language Center, classmates, college of liberal arts, cuisines, Different Cultures, different shapes, Emmanuel Christian School, George Mason High School, international students, Mason High School, Naperville North High School, National Cheng Kung University, Ncku, second time, seeds, Tainan Taiwan, Taiwan Business, Taiwan Students

UK school brands student truant for not dressing like a Muslim

May 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, May 13 (ANI): A fourteen-year-old British girl was branded as truant because she refused to dress as a Muslim and visit a mosque.

Amy Owen and her classmates were instructed to wear a headscarf, trousers or leggings and cover their arms for the “compulsory” field trip to promote “community cohesion”.

She was asked to make a three-pound contribution towards the trip to the Al Rahma mosque in Toxteth, Liverpool, last month, but when she objected to the dress code, head teacher Peter Lee told her the visit was “as compulsory as a geography field trip”.

But after she objected and boycotted the outing, she was told her refusal was being treated as non-attendance and it would be marked down as an “unauthorised absence” in the school register, the Daily Express reported.

Her mother Michelle Davies, 34, said yesterday: “I kept Amy off school because I objected to her being ordered to dress like a Muslim girl. She’s been brought up in the Catholic faith and religion. She’s not a Muslim and shouldn’t be told to dress like one.”

Mike Judge, spokesman for the Christian Institute, which promotes Christian religion and education in the UK, said: “I’m all for children learning about different religions but to insist someone should dress as a Muslim to visit a mosque and then punish them when they refuse is a disgrace.”

A school spokesman said: “In keeping with accepted good practice we are pleased to provide students with an experience of a visit to a mosque and the chance to question a representative of the community which it serves.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Amy Owen, British Girl, Catholic Faith, christian religion, classmates, community cohesion, Compulsory Field, daily express, different religions, Geography Field Trip, head teacher, leggings, Michelle Davies, Mike Judge, mosque, Muslim Girl, Rahma, School Register, Toxteth Liverpool, Unauthorised Absence

TV-watching tots ‘more likely to be bullied, chubbier, less intelligent’

May 4, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 4 (ANI): Children who are exposed to more television at 29 months of age are likely to struggle in school later, with measurably lower scores in maths, and they may get bullied more than other children, claims a new study.

To reach the conclusion, Linda S. Pagani, Ph.D., of Université de Montréal, Canada, and colleagues studied 1,314 children in this age group whose parents reported their weekly hours of television exposure.

The researchers assessed parent and teacher reports of the children”s academic, psychosocial and health behaviors as well as their body mass index (BMI) in fourth grade.

Each additional hour of television in early childhood corresponded to a 7 percent unit decrease in classroom engagement, 6 percent unit decrease in math achievement, 10 percent unit increase in victimization by classmates, 13 percent unit decrease in time spent doing weekend physical activity, 9 percent unit decreases in activities involving physical effort, 9 percent higher scores for consumption of soft drinks and 10 percent higher scores for consumption of snacks, as well as a 5 percent unit increase in BMI.

“The long-term risks associated with higher levels of early exposure may chart developmental pathways toward unhealthy dispositions in adolescence,” the authors conclude. “A population-level understanding of such risks remains essential for promoting child development.”

The researchers reported the findings in the Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: adolescence, Adolescent Medicine, body mass index, body mass index bmi, child development, classmates, Developmental Pathways, Fourth Grade, Health Behaviors, Math Achievement, montreal canada, Paediatric, Pagani, physical effort, Population Level, psychosocial, soft drinks, Teacher Reports, Television Exposure, victimization

16-year-old girl barred from school for wearing hijab in Spain

April 17, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Madrid, Apr 16(ANI): A 16-year-old schoolgirl, Najwa Malha, has been banned from classes in Spain after she refused to remove her hijab (Islamic headscarf).

Malha has been excluded from classes at Camilo Jose Cela School in Madrid after being told that her hijab was in violation of the school dress code.

The school said in a statement that its internal regulations bar ‘the use of hats and any other article of clothing that cover the head’.

“I feel totally discriminated against,” The Telegraph quoted Malha, as saying.

The 16-year-old, who was born in Spain to Moroccan parents, said she alone took the decision to wear the headscarf to school last February ‘against the advice of her mother’.

It is believed that Malha’s classmates have supported her decision, but regional authorities have backed the school.

Meanwhile, Association of Moroccan Workers and Immigrants in Spain has condemned the school’s decision.

“For the past several weeks Najwa Malha cannot go to class in her school, which is contrary to her right to a basic education guaranteed by the constitution,” said Kamal Ramoini, the association’s head.

It is the second such case to come to light in Spain. Last November, a Muslim lawyer was ejected from a Spanish court, where she was defending a client, because she refused to remove her headscarf. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 16 Year Old Girl, 16 Year Old Schoolgirl, basic education, Camilo Jose Cela, classmates, constitution, hats, Immigrants In Spain, islamic headscarf, kamal, last november, Malha, moroccan, Muslim, Regional Authorities, School Dress Code, Spain Madrid, Spanish Court, Telegraph, Wearing Hijab

16-year-old girl barred from school for wearing hijab in Spain

April 17, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Madrid, Apr 16(ANI): A 16-year-old schoolgirl, Najwa Malha, has been banned from classes in Spain after she refused to remove her hijab (Islamic headscarf).

Malha has been excluded from classes at Camilo Jose Cela School in Madrid after being told that her hijab was in violation of the school dress code.

The school said in a statement that its internal regulations bar ‘the use of hats and any other article of clothing that cover the head’.

“I feel totally discriminated against,” The Telegraph quoted Malha, as saying.

The 16-year-old, who was born in Spain to Moroccan parents, said she alone took the decision to wear the headscarf to school last February ‘against the advice of her mother’.

It is believed that Malha’s classmates have supported her decision, but regional authorities have backed the school.

Meanwhile, Association of Moroccan Workers and Immigrants in Spain has condemned the school’s decision.

ESPN’s Allen Iverson documentary holds few surprises

April 12, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

AUSTIN, Texas (Hollywood Reporter) – A decade and a half after “Hoop Dreams,” Steve James examines a dream that was nearly denied in “No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson,” looking at a basketball star whose career was almost ended before it started by a racially charged court case.

Entertainment | Television | People | Media

Produced for ESPN, the documentary will premiere in the sports cable network’s “30 for 30″ series on Tuesday, and is most appropriate for that venue.

While still in high school, NBA star-to-be Allen Iverson was accused of assault after a bowling-alley brawl that allegedly started when some white classmates called someone “n—er.” Though he claimed to have left the scene without hitting anyone, Iverson was one of four young men — all black — convicted as adults and sentenced to jail terms.

They were released by an outgoing governor after the controversy reached Sports Illustrated and NBC, but not before the prosecution inflamed tensions in a town, Hampton, Virginia, whose dark place in the history of slavery was unknown to most residents — including James, who grew up there himself.

Lacking any substantial new discoveries about the case — most participants, including Iverson, refused to give interviews — James is forced to paint it from the margins, speaking mostly to journalists, those who knew Iverson as a youth, and community activists who protested the conviction.

While he convincingly depicts the young athlete’s disadvantages — Iverson often missed school to care for an infant sibling, and was sometimes forced to buy drugs for his mother, who was 15 when he was born — he can say nothing definitive about Iverson’s guilt or innocence in the fight; he concludes only that prosecutors sought much harsher punishment than usual because the already-famous Iverson was a high-profile defendant.

In the annals of sports-related crime, the Iverson case is small potatoes. James tries to lend interest to his film by playing up his mostly insignificant connection to the subject: He grew up in Hampton too, played basketball there, and once made a film about his sports-obsessed father.

While the connection yields a moment or two of interest (the only reason the former police chief consents to an interview is because James’s mother “browbeats” him), it fails to add meaning to the already established facts. In the end, the strategy comes off as an inoffensive but unsuccessful attempt to spin the humble material into something profound.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Allen Iverson, annals, basketball star, Bowling Alley Brawl, cable network, classmates, Community Activists, court case, entertainment television, espn, hampton virginia, history of slavery, hollywood reporter, Hoop Dreams, Jail Terms, Nba Star, new discoveries, s allen, Small Potatoes, sports illustrated

Anticipating quick results boosts performance

March 31, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 31 (ANI): The more desperate students are to receive their grades, the more they are likely to perform in class, according to a new study.

Psychological scientists Keri L. Kettle and Gerald Haubl of the University of Alberta in Canada wanted to investigate how the timing of expected feedback impacts individuals” performance.

For the experiment, they recruited students enrolled in a class that required each student to give a 4-minute oral presentation.

The presentations were rated by classmates on a scale from 0 (poor) to 10 (excellent) and the average of these ratings formed the presenter”s grade for that part of the course.

Students received an email 1 day, 8 days, or 15 days before their presentation and were invited to participate in this research study. Students agreeing to volunteer in the study were informed when they would receive feedback on their presentation and were asked to predict their grades.

Participating students were randomly assigned to a specific amount of anticipated feedback delay, which ranged from 0 (same day) to 17 days.

It was found that students who were told they would receive feedback quickly on their performance earned higher grades than students who expected feedback at a later time.

In addition, when students expected to receive their grades quickly, they predicted that their performance would be worse than students who were to receive feedback later.

The pattern suggests that anticipating rapid feedback may improve performance because the threat of disappointment is more prominent.

“People do best precisely when their predictions about their own performance are least optimistic,” noted the authors.

Although the experiment took place in a classroom, the authors concluded that these findings “have important practical implications for all individuals who are responsible for mentoring and for evaluating the performance of others.”

The study has been published in Psychological Science. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: boosts, Canada, classmates, Course Students, Desperate Students, disappointment, email, Feedback Delay, Gerald Haubl, Mentoring, Minute Oral Presentation, psychological science, Rapid Feedback, Scientists, Study Students, University of Alberta

One in six adults” literacy lower than that of an 11-year-old

March 30, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, Mar 30 (ANI): A new study has revealed that one in six adults have lower literacy than the level expected of an 11-year-old.

The research found that only half of children enjoy reading, and that a quarter do not recognise any link between reading and success.

According to the National Literacy Trust, the report, ”Literacy: State of the Nation” is the first coherent, national picture of reading and writing abilities.

The study was conducted on more than 17,000 pupils from 112 schools.

And the survey suggested that most read e-mails, blogs and websites more frequently than books. And that children, who engage in technology, were more likely to enjoy writing than their classmates.

While literacy levels have risen among 11-year-olds in the past decade, they have levelled out in writing. Yet three-quarters of parents said their child often read for pleasure.

The report also analysed reading and writing in the workplace, and found widespread concerns.

Almost seven in ten retail firms and half of manufacturing companies reported problems with literacy among staff.

Nearly two-thirds of men and three-quarters of women with very low literacy skills had never received a promotion, it found.

Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, said the findings were “extremely worrying”.

“We believe this should be of great concern to all political parties as reading for pleasure helps to develop strong literacy skills and ultimately, supports academic and future success,” Times Online quoted him as saying.

“The Treasury estimated the cider tax will bring in 30 million pounds.

“For just a tenth of this money the Government could establish which adults are most in need of literacy support and run a year-long campaign to support children and adults who are struggling with literacy.

“It is estimated that poor literacy costs the economy 2.5billion pounds a year,” he stated.

Andrew Motion, the former Poet Laureate, said: “Literacy is the key to the door of belonging to your self, your society and your world.”

“In hard times such as we are now entering, when the risk of inequality will increase, literacy and its unlocking matter more than ever,” he added. (ANI)

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Generosity comes full circle with this Indian couple in Melbourne

March 27, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Mar. 27 (ANI): Indian couple Pooja and Ashok Balasubramanian were one the verge of coming back to India when their friends in Australia refused to help them settle down there, but that was before their angel-in-guise appeared.

Now, the Balasubramanians are owners of three Melbourne restaurants – Cafe Indi (Hawthorn), Papline (Chapel Street) and Basso (Elizabeth Street) – and planning to buy a fourth, The Age reports.

But that was not before their fair share of distress and disappointments.

The arrived in Melbourne with only 3000 dollars. They had moved into a share house with three other families and were being charged 1500 dollars a month for a single bedroom.

With no jobs, no tenancy references and no real friends, it was impossible for the couple to find alternative accommodation or support.

“Finally, we said ”We have to go back to our country, we cannot struggle here,” Pooja recounts.

In one last attempt to make Melbourne their home, the couple responded to Liz Shellard”s advertisement for a three-bedroom apartment in Malvern and the connection was instant.

“They were such a beautiful couple, obviously madly in love. I was showing them around the place and they commented on such little things, like how beautiful the jasmine smelled in the garden, and I just knew I wanted to help them,” Shellard said.

Shellard immediately moved the couple in, gave them a bed and a fully furnished kitchen, and helped them search for work.

Two years down the track, Ashok and Pooja”s gratitude is as evident as their success.

The Balasubramanians have offered Mrs Shellard a partnership in their latest restaurant and Shellard”s daughter, Sarah, has been given a part-time traineeship working with Balasubramanian as a graphic designer.

“I”m absolutely flabbergasted. Sarah”s classmates won”t learn animation until the end of the year, but Pooja is teaching her that already,” Shellard said. (ANI)

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Pursuit of status and affection behind bullies”” behavior

March 25, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 25 (ANI): Most bullies are motivated by the pursuit of status and affection, says a new study.

The longitudinal study was conducted by researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. It appears in the March/April 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.

In their work, the researchers questioned almost 500 elementary-school children ages 9 to 12. Based on their findings, they conclude that bullies generally choose to gain status by dominating their victims. But at the same time, they try to reduce the chances that they””ll end up on the outs with other classmates by choosing as victims children who are weak and not well-liked by others. In short, even bullies care a lot about others”” affection and don””t want to lose it.

“To understand the complex nature of acceptance and rejection, it””s necessary to distinguish the gender of the bully, the gender of the target, and the gender of the classmates who accept and reject bullies and victims,” according to René Veenstra, professor of sociology at the University of Groningen, who led the study. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: affection, April, bullies, bully, Care A Lot, classmates, Elementary School Children, journal child development, led, longitudinal study, Nature, Netherlands, rejection, School Children Ages, sociology, target, University Of Groningen

Michelle Obama meets The Simpsons

March 24, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, March 24 (ANI): Michelle Obama has become the latest high profiler to feature in the hit animated series The Simpsons.

The US First Lady was shown wrapped in purple and pearls as she jetted into Springfield for an inspirational visit to the local school children.

The Stealing First Base” episode shows the mum-of-two defending Lisa over teasing at school, Times Online reported.

Her character then goes on to warn Lisa”s classmates, saying “The overachievers may someday run the country.”

Oscar-winning actress Angela Bassett lent her voice for the cartoon portrayal of the First Lady. (ANI)

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Kiwi woman turns celeb with 25,000 Twitter followers after online chat show!

March 20, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Wellington, Mar 20 (ANI): An online chat show has turned a Kiwi woman into an instant celebrity with 25,000 followers on Twitter.

Lisa Etheridge, 39, a mother of one from Auckland, signed up for an account with micro-blogging website Twitter as part of a Unitec class exercise to promote relations with sister universities in Ireland and Chile.

Initially, Etheridge, a self-confessed technophobe, had just two classmates registered as followers and posted just one message under the pseudonym LisaTickledPink – “I hate technology.”

Then journalist Leo Laporte and Internet entrepreneur Kevin Rose, the founder of one of the world”s biggest social sites, Digg.com, decided to randomly pick a Twitter account and recommend people sign on as followers.

They were running a live Internet chat show, watched by 175,000 people.

“Hold on, I think I may have found a user. LisaTickledPink says `I hate technology,”” Stuff.co.nz quoted Kevin Rose as telling viewers on the show.

Leo Laporte responded: “Oh that”s it, that sounds like the right person for us. OK, let”s see what we can do.”

And since the exchange, 25,000 Twitter users began following Etheridge – and now she has reached the top 2 per cent of most followed among all 6.5 million worldwide Twitter users.

“The first thing that ran through my mind was that I had made a big mistake when I joined up,” she said.

“I couldn”t figure out why everyone was emailing me, I just assumed ”oh no, I pushed the wrong button or ticked the wrong box,”” she added.

But now she is a Twitter fan and an Internet celebrity.

“I have got my own help centre now, it”s just incredible. If I have any questions about anything to do with technology or anything for that matter, within one minute, two minutes, I have got about 50 to 60 responses and they just keep coming through the day. It is fantastic in that sense and everybody is very gracious,” she said. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 5 million, big mistake, blogging, chat show, Class Exercise, classmates, followers, help centre, Internet Celebrity, Internet Chat, internet entrepreneur, journalist, Kiwi Woman, Leo Laporte, pseudonym, Sister Universities, twitter, two minutes, Universities In Ireland, Wellington

Unnoticed copying among students taking a toll on academic performance

March 19, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 19 (ANI): With the advent of lecture-hall laptops and online coursework, there has been an upsurge in unnoticed cheating among students, which, according to researchers, is a significant cause of course failure.

A researcher from the University of Kansas has teamed up with colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to get a better handle on copying in college in the 21st century.

Young-Jin Lee, assistant professor of educational technology at KU, and the Research in Learning, Assessing and Tutoring Effectively group at MIT spent four years seeing how many copied answers MIT students submitted to MasteringPhysics, an online homework tutoring system.

“MIT freshmen are required to take physics. Homework was given through a Web-based tutor that our group had developed. We analyzed when they logged in, when they logged out, what kind of problems they solved and what kinds of hints they used,” said Lee.

Lee said that it was easy to spot students who had obtained answers from classmates before completing the homework.

“We ran into very interesting students who could solve the problems — very hard problems — in less than one minute, without making any mistakes,” said Lee.

Students also were asked to complete an anonymous survey about the frequency of their homework copying.

The researchers found that students who procrastinated also copied more often. Those who started their homework three days ahead of deadline copied less than 10 percent of their problems, while those who dragged their feet until the last minute were repetitive copiers.

The students who copied frequently had about three times the chance of failing the course.

Results of the survey show that students are twice as likely to copy on written homework than on online homework.

The study showed that doing all the homework assigned is “a surer route to exam success” than a pre-existing aptitude for physics.

“People believe that students copy because of their poor academic skills. But we found that repetitive copiers — students who copy over 30 percent of their homework problems — had enough knowledge, at least at the beginning of the semester. But they didn’t put enough effort in. They didn’t start their homework long enough ahead of time, as compared to noncopiers,” said Lee.

The study has been published in Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research. (ANI)

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Another Brit boy, 9, turns up as girl at school

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 19 (ANI): After a 12-year-old boy recently turned up dressed as a girl at a school in South London, a 9-year-old boy did the same the next day making parents extremely worried.

The child apparently came to school dressed in female uniform, with long hair in a ponytail, tied in pink ribbon.

The classmates of the boy were reportedly told that a girl had replaced the boy, so they should address her as a girl.

A parent revealed: “My son came home from school and asked why one of his friends had become a girl. I thought he was joking, but he kept asking – that’s when alarm bells began ringing.

“The pupil’s classmates were told he had left and that a new girl would be starting in his place this term.”

However, parents are angry at the school administration for not alerting them in advance, as their kids are now coming up with awkward questions.

“It upsets me that staff didn’t mention it to parents before talking to the pupils,” the Sun quoted a mother of a pupil as saying.

“We have had to deal with the fall-out from all this. It’s not a situation I or other parents are comfortable with and we’ve not been given any help from the school about how to handle it.

“My son is too young to really understand the significance of what’s happening. It’s hard to explain to him.

“He doesn’t understand the differences between girls’ and boys’ bodies yet. I’m terrified he’ll ask me if he can become a girl as well,” she added.

The child will be using the girls’ toilet apart from being addressed by a new name as recommended after a special assembly held by the school’s female head, their class teacher and the sex-change pupil’s special needs teacher.

The kid is apparently the youngest child to undergo sex change.

A spokeswoman of The Beaumont Society, the world’s largest transgender organisation, said the nine-year-old gender swap child was the youngest case it had heard of.

She said: “This child is vulnerable to bullying and teasing. They and their family have been seriously misadvised. It is hard enough for an adult to change gender. To go the extent that this nine-year-old has gone is unique.” (ANI)

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Watson charms classmates with magic trick on first day of college

September 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 7 (ANI): ‘Harry Potter’ star Emma Watson had magic tricks up her sleeves to charm her classmates on the first day of her college.

She showed how from a sitting position to magically raise yourself to standing without putting your hands on the ground, reports the Sun.

The 19-year-old beauty’s friends apparently had a hearty laugh on seeing the trick.

Watson is pursuing a degree in Literature at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island. (ANI)

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Younger teens really do care what others think about them

July 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 16 (ANI): They might be fond of chanting ‘I don’t care’ slogans every now and then, but deep down inside younger adolescents or “tweens” care a lot about what others think about them, a new study has found.

The study confirmed this using brain-mapping techniques that shed new light on this complex period of social development.

The study, authored by researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of California Los Angeles, has been published in the July/August 2009 issue of the journal Child Development.

Previous research into this area has relied on reports by teenagers themselves. However, the latest study eliminated the potential bias of self-reports by using brain scans to look at the neural systems that support individuals’ perceptions of themselves.

During the brain scans, 12 early adolescents (11- to 13-year-olds) and 12 young adults (22- to 30-year-olds) responded to researchers’ questions about whether short phrases (such as “I am popular”) described them, and whether they believed others (mothers, best friends, classmates) thought these phrases described them, too.

The researchers then examined activity in the brain that occurred when the participants gave their responses.

In comparison to the young adults, the tweens see themselves in ways that may depend more on what they believe others think about their abilities and attributes. And these others-including parents and friends-may have more influence in some areas than in other areas, with moms having more sway over how the tweens view their academic abilities but best friends exerting influence over how they see their social skills, the study found.

“These findings provide a novel form of evidence confirming the sensitivity of adolescents to what they believe others think of them, especially parents and peers,” suggests Jennifer H. Pfeifer, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon and the lead author.

“More importantly, they suggest that being able to see others’ perspectives on oneself may be particularly critical to development in adolescence. As a result, individuals who lack this social cognitive skill (including those with autism spectrum disorders) may face significant obstacles,” she added. (ANI)

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Saint Xavier’s college denies promotion to Dhoni

July 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Ranchi, July 11 (ANI): Mahendra Singh Dhoni might be going great guns on and off the field but that’s no valid reason that he should do well in academics, as Saint Xavier’s college in Ranchi has denied promotion to the cricket captain following his failure to appear in the Bachelor of Commerce part-1 examination.

Ranchi University, to which the college is affiliated, went out of the way relaxing attendance rules last year to enable Dhoni to resume his education after a nine year hiatus.

“He (Dhoni) does not fall into the regular system of education. He comes under the certified system or the assignment system. He can submit his assignments and clear his subjects accordingly,” said Gautam Rudra, a Commerce professor.

But Dhoni has plenty of well-wishers among his classmates, only if their voice would be heard.

“According to me Dhoni should atleast attend the classes, but in case he can’t attend the classes he should be promoted because he is playing for the country and he is making our country proud. So I guess and I think so that he should be promoted to the second year,” said Rohan Pathak. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: academics, ANI, assignment, Assignment System, atleast, attendance, Attendance Rules, bachelor, Bachelor Of Commerce, captain, case, classmates, college, commerce, country, Cricket, cricket captain, Education, examination, failure, Failure To Appear, field, Gautam Rudra, great guns, hiatus, July, Mahendra, mahendra singh dhoni, part, pathak, plenty, professor, promotion, Ranchi, reason, resume, rohan, s college, Saint Xavier, Singh Dhoni, system, University, valid reason, voice, way, well wishers, Xavier College, year

Hayden Panettiere’s high school torture admission

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Jul 10 (ANI): American actress Hayden Panettiere has revealed that life during high school had not been easy for her, as her jealous classmates hated her and made her life a misery.

Panettiere, 19, who had landed her first US TV role at the age of six, said that she was “tortured” by kids in middle school, as they would not let her join in their fun.

“I was tortured, emotionally tortured by these girls. Every time I came back from filming, it would be me trying to find my way back into the clique. And they weren’t having it,” Contactmusic quoted her as having told Details magazine.

The actress also revealed that she started realising that she was a little “different” years before the problems started.

“I remember hearing in first grade, ‘Oh, why does she get to skip school?’ It wasn’t like I suddenly started feeling different. I always knew that I was,” she added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: Actress, admission, age, American actress, ANI, classmates, clique, contactmusic, details magazine, First Grade, fun, grade, Hayden Panettiere, hearing, Jul, life, magazine, misery, role, s high school, school, these girls, time, torture, Trying To Find My Way, Tv Role, Washington, way

Depressed students twice as likely to drop out of college

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 7 (ANI): A new study has shown that college students with depression are twice as likely as their classmates to drop out.

Daniel Eisenberg, assistant professor in the University of Michigan School of Public Health and principal investigator of the study, said that the study, however, also indicates that lower grade point averages depended upon a student’s type of depression.

There are two core symptoms of depression—loss of interest and pleasure in activities, or depressed mood—but only loss of interest is associated with lower grade point averages.

“The correlation between depression and academic performance is mainly driven by loss of interest in activities,” Eisenberg said.

“This is significant because it means individuals can be very depressed and very functional, depending on which type of depression they have. I think that this can be true for many high achieving people, who may feel down and hopeless but not lose interest in activities.

“Lots of students who have significant depression on some dimension are performing just fine, but may be at risk and go unnoticed because there is no noticeable drop in functioning,” Eisenberg added.

Students with both depression and anxiety had especially poor academic performance.

“If you take a student at the 50th percentile of the GPA distribution and compare them to a student with depression alone, the depressed student would be around the 37th percentile—a 13 percent drop. However, a student with depression and anxiety plummets to about the 23rd percentile, a 50 percent drop,” Eisenberg said.

In the study, Eisenberg and his colleagues conducted a Web survey of a random sample of approximately 2,800 undergraduate and graduate students about a range of mental health issues in fall 2005, and conducted a follow-up survey with a subset of the sample in fall 2007.

The paper will publish later this summer in the online journal B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: classmates, daniel eisenberg, depressed mood, depressed student, GPA, grade point averages, loss of interest, Mental Health Issues, michigan school, noticeable drop, percentile, plummets, poor academic performance, principal investigator, random sample, s type, school of public health, symptoms of depression, University Of Michigan School Of Public Health, web survey

Booze linked to sexual assault among women in college

June 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 28 (ANI): A new study has revealed that nearly 20 percent of undergraduate American women are sexually assaulted during their time in college and that the majority of incidents occurred while they were under the influence of alcohol.

Researchers suggest that college campuses need more integrated substance use and sexual victimization risk reduction and prevention programming.

“The findings support the need for the development and implementation of campus-based sexual assault prevention and risk reduction programming that is integrated with drug and alcohol awareness training,” said Chris Krebs, Ph.D., a senior research social scientist at RTI and the study’s lead author.

“The prevention programs should teach students how to monitor and manage their drug and alcohol use, anticipate when they or their peers may become cognitively or physically impaired, and reduce their risk of being victimized by recognizing situations and persons that could pose a danger,” he added.

The study involving 5000 undergraduate women showed that more than 11 percent of women had been sexually assaulted while they were incapacitated and unable to provide consent.

And that freshman and sophomore women were at a higher risk for sexual assault than their junior and senior counterparts.

Overall, the study showed that almost 30 percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing an attempted or completed sexual assault either before or while in college.

“Our research suggests that limiting alcohol intake and not taking drugs are important sexual assault risk reduction strategies, especially within the context of campus social situations,” said Christine Lindquist, Ph.D., a senior research sociologist at RTI and the study’s second author.

“Developing programs that teach women and men how they can protect themselves and their classmates is an important part of preventing sexual victimization,” she added.

The study is published in the Journal of American College Health. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: alcohol intake, alcohol researchers, american college health, awareness training, classmates, college campuses, drug and alcohol, drug and alcohol awareness, lindquist, prevention programming, Prevention Programs, risk reduction strategies, RTI, sexual assault prevention, social scientist, Social Situations, sociologist, sophomore women, substance use, taking drugs, undergraduate women

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