School performance and disciplinary problems among abused and neglected children.

Investigated the relationship of child abuse and neglect to academic achievement and discipline problems in a school-age population. A representative community sample of 420 maltreated children in kindergarten through Grade 12 were matched with 420 nonmaltreated children in the same community. Using social service and school records as the sources of data, the authors found maltreated children performed significantly below their nonmaltreated peers in standardized tests and grades and were more likely to repeat a grade. Maltreated children also had significantly more discipline referrals and suspensions. Of the maltreated children, neglected children showed the poorest outcomes on academic performance, and physically abused children showed the most discipline problems. Variations in maltreatment effects by grade level, public assistance status, and gender are also described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Substantiation of child abuse and neglect reports.

A representative sample of 796 sexual abuse, 198 physical abuse, and 880 child neglect reports in New York State in 1985 was examined to identify case factors that predict the substantiation of the reports following an investigation by child protective services. This issue has taken on added significance as the number of child maltreatment reports continues to rise, whereas the percentage of those being substantiated declines. Regression analyses revealed that reports from professionals were substantiated at a significantly higher rate than reports from nonprofessionals for all types of maltreatment. These analyses further revealed that part of the effect of source of report was due to differences between professional and nonprofessional reports in the types of actions taken after the report was received. The most important predictors of substantiation, after source of report, were the variables that reflected the case investigatory process. The data also showed that background characteristics, such as the child's ethnicity or the number of children in the household, had some impact on the outcome of the investigation and that this varied as a function of the type of maltreatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Control of Morphological and Rheological Properties of Carrot Cell Wall Particle Dispersions through Processing

A range of thermal and mechanical processes were used to create dispersions with different particle morphologies, i.e., systems that contain primarily plant cell wall clusters with an average particle size (d(0.5)) of ～200 µm, single cells ((d(0.5)?=?～70 µm) or cell fragments (d(0.5)?=?～40 µm). The small and large deformation rheology (viscoelastic properties and flow properties) of these dispersions, with a range of total solid contents covering textures varying from a fluid to a paste, were determined. The particle dispersions showed weak gel-like behaviour. Their elastic modulus (G′) as a function of total solid content exhibited three regions of different rheological behaviours. The particles formed particulate colloidal networks at relatively low solid content. The interaction of particles contributed to the sharp increase in the elastic modulus of the dispersion in the concentrated region. Further packing of particles beyond the critical packing volume fraction, caused the G′ for the ‘cluster-cell’ and the ‘single-cell’ dispersions to reach a plateau value. This is due to particle deformation resulting in changes in their microstructure and their ability to pack closely. Plant particle dispersions displayed abrupt yielding at the critical stress with a 3–4 order decrease in viscosity and high yield stress at low solids due to the formation of particulate colloidal network.     

The effects of night ventilation technique on indoor thermal environment for residential buildings in hot-humid climate of Malaysia

This study investigates the effectiveness of night ventilation technique for residential buildings in hot-humid climate of Malaysia. This paper firstly presents the results of a survey on usage patterns of windows and air-conditioners in typical Malaysian residential areas. Secondly, the effects of different natural ventilation strategies on indoor thermal environment for Malaysian terraced houses are evaluated based on the results of a full-scale field experiment. The results show that the majority of occupants tend to apply not night ventilation but daytime ventilation in Malaysian residential areas. It can be seen from the field experiment that night ventilation would provide better thermal comfort for occupants in Malaysian terraced houses compared with the other ventilation strategies in terms of operative temperature. However, when the evaporative heat loss of occupants is taken into account by using SET*, the night ventilation would not be the superior technique to the others in providing daytime thermal comfort mainly due to the high humidity conditions. Therefore, the indoor humidity control during the daytime such as by dehumidification would be needed when the night ventilation technique is applied to Malaysian terraced houses. Otherwise, full-day ventilation would be a better option compared with night ventilation.