Three experiments assessed the efficacy of various reinforcers to increase correct task responding in a total of 10 autistic children, aged 6-9. Of the reinforcers used (stereotypy, delayed echolalia, perseverative behavior, and food), task performance was highest with opportunities to engage in aberrant behaviors, and lowest with edible…

Surveys holders of doctorates in speech communication to discover the greatest barriers to dissertation completion and the forms of emotional support perceived as most useful. Offers advice to help doctoral candidates succeed in completing a dissertation. (SR)

Quality in outcomes-based education depends on type of educational goals and outcomes and a view of humanity as motivated by self-interest. When these requirements are not met, outcomes-driven education may be dehumanizing and educationally trivializing. (SK)

Reports four experiments that examined four-year olds' ability to coordinate orthogonal spatial dimensions. Found that performance was particularly good when two imagined lines of sight were the dimensions to be coordinated. Results support the notion that young children perform better when tasks are set in a meaningful context. (MM)

Examined 4-year olds' strategy development using a new kind of "same-different" judgment task that minimized memory demands. Found that children's spontaneous behavior was highly strategic, and over trials it developed differently for "same" and "different" trials. Most children who did not spontaneously use the most…

Analysis of career-success factors identified by 5,000 managers yielded 10 key pieces: excellent performance record, communication skills, interpersonal skills, personality, skill currency, significant work experiences, power, ability to withstand pressure, ability to make difficult decisions, and having a mentor. (SK)

Discusses the evolution of human performance improvement, an outgrowth of instructional systems design and programmed instruction that emerged after World War II. Discusses the contributing disciplines (behaviorism, analytical systems, organizational learning, organizational development, systems theory, management development) and the major…

Managers (n=112) from a large international consumer goods manufacturer participated in a field experiment in which they learned and applied the Simplex process of creative thinking to solve real management problems. Behavioral skill in generating quantity of options was the most important variable to the creative process. (Contains references.)…

Describes parallel computing and presents inexpensive ways to implement a virtual parallel computer with multiple Web servers. Highlights include performance measurement of parallel systems; models for using Java and intranet technology including single server, multiple clients and multiple servers, single client; and a comparison of CGI (common…

Examined predictors of attitudes and beliefs related to school and family and predictors of mathematics outcomes focusing on attitudes using data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Tested a model derived from Cyprus TIMSS data on U.S. and Japanese data. Findings highlight the complexity of factors accounting for…

Discusses practical aspects of measuring service performance in academic libraries. Outlines the local indicators developed and used in a library at the University of New South Wales. Lists quantitative and qualitative measures of information service used and proposes a meta-indicator that relates the resources needed to develop and maintain these…

Whether forward and backward serial recall performance reflects different codes, or different levels of processing complexity, was studied with 122 undergraduates. Results suggest that a phonological code was used for both forward and backward recall, and that a similar level of processing complexity was required for both. (SLD)

The central auditory processing (CAP) abilities of 52 low-achieving gifted high school students were measured and compared to matching groups of achieving gifted students, average students, and students with learning disabilities. Results indicated significant CAP deficits in the low-achieving gifted group that were similar to those of the…

A lexical decision study with two groups of tertiary students (n=43) differing in their Chinese language ability found that even for adult readers differing in their Chinese language ability, lexicality, frequency of characters, and the consistency of semantic radicals affect accurate and rapid character identification. Teaching suggestions are…

Examined in 4 experiments 2-year-olds' knowledge of solidity in search tasks. Found no evidence that 2-year-olds represented solidity and support constraints on trajectories of falling objects; two experiments included 2.5-year-olds who succeeded on search tasks. Explored implications of 2-year-olds' poor performance in light of very young…