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School climate is an essential ingredient of student well-being and academic success. Although it has been studied extensively, only a few well-validated instruments are available for the assessment of school climate. The aim of this study was to assess the factor validity and measurement invariance of the Socio-educational Environment Questionnaire (SEQ) using data from a longitudinal cohort of 1036 French-Canadian high school students who were assessed on three occasions. Exploratory structural equation modeling was used to empirically test the factor structure and measurement invariance across time and gender. The results supported the proposed SEQ five-factor model (teacher-student relationship, student relationships, justice climate, academic climate, and safety climate) and its longitudinal invariance across high school years. Gender invariance was also established. Finally, predictive validity was assessed. Among the five school climate dimensions, teacher-student relationships, academic and safety climate were related to subsequent school engagement. School climate was not associated with either boys' or girls' academic achievement. Overall, this study suggests that the SEQ is a valid and reliable short tool for the assessment of school climate in high school.

Studies highlighting the importance of parental involvement in schooling have multiplied over the past years. However, well-validated tools assessing the different dimensions of parental involvement are lacking, especially when addressing young students' perception of their parents' involvement. This study offers a preliminary validation of the Student-Rated Parental School Involvement Questionnaire (SR-PSIQ); factor structure, measurement invariance, and predictive validity were assessed. Data collected on four measurement occasions from 923 French-Canadian primary school students was used. Results favored a four-factor model (parental expectations, parent--child communication, homework supervision, and school-based involvement). The SR-PSIQ was invariant across time, student gender, parental immigration status, and socioeconomic status. Regarding predictive validity, all dimensions of parental involvement were associated with later student engagement. Overall, the SR-PSIQ is a brief, valid, and reliable instrument that can easily be used by researchers or partitioners who want to understand how parents are involved in their child's schooling.

This study investigates the nexus between teacher exposure to student aggression, their level of emotional exhaustion, and the role of belongingness and perceived school safety as mediators. Random-Intercept Cross-Lag Panel Models were conducted among a sample of 2,072 secondary teachers (57.14% female) from grades 7 to 11 in 77 schools. Chronic levels of exposure to globally high levels of student aggression and specific high levels of direct victimization were associated with increased levels of emotional exhaustion. These associations were fully mediated by teacher perceptions of school belongingness and safety. Temporary fluctuations in witnessing student-to-student aggression led to increased emotional exhaustion via decreased perceptions of safety. Specific levels of witnessing student-to-teacher aggression were not linked with exhaustion over time beyond global levels of exposure to student aggression. The chronicity of exposure to different forms of student aggression is a risk factor for emotional exhaustion among teachers.

This paper describes the nature of home-school value discrepancies perceived by students, and tests associations between such value discrepancies and teacher-student relationships with student generational status as a moderator. Using a sample of 1,551 students from grades 10 and 11, chi-square tests and ANOVAs were used to describe the nature of discrepancies, while hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to test associations. Second-generation students generally perceived more differences between family-school values. When experiencing less value discrepancies, students reported closer teacher-student relationships. Value discrepancies were also associated with conflict, third-plus-generation standing out. Practitioners should mitigate value discrepancies to improve teacher-student relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of adopting a Mediterranean diet on dietary cost and energy density in free-living conditions. The 12-wk nutritional intervention consisted of 2 group courses and 7 individual sessions with a dietician in a sample of 73 healthy women. To evaluate the dietary response to the nutritional intervention, a registered dietician administered a FFQ at 0, 6, 12, and 24 wk. Total daily dietary cost was calculated using a price list including all items from the FFQ. Our findings indicated that daily energy cost evaluated at wk 12 vs. wk 0 [1046 [+ or -] 217 vs. 967 [+ or -] 192 k J/Canadian dollars (CANS), respectively, P = 0.18] and total daily dietary cost (8.61 + 2.13 vs. 8.75 [+ or -] 2.50 CAN$/d per participant, respectively, P - 0.58) did not change. Total daily energy density at wk 12 decreased compared with wk 0 (2.56 [+ or -] 0.76 vs. 2.20 [+ or -] 0.67 kJ/g; P < 0.0001). Adherence to the Mediterranean diet led to increased cost related to vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds, canola/olive oil, whole grains, poultry, and fish (P [less than or equal to] 0.01) and to reduced dietary cost for red meat, refined grains, desserts and sweets, and fast food (P [less than or equal to] 0.008). In conclusion, these data suggest that adherence to a nutritional intervention program promoting the Mediterranean food pattern is not associated with increased daily dietary cost or energy cost but led to a reduction in energy density. Consequently, increased cost should not be considered a barrier to the promotion and adoption of a Mediterranean diet.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a nutritional intervention promoting the Mediterranean food pattern under free-living conditions on circulating oxidized LDL (ox-LDL) in a group of 71 healthy women from the Quebec City metropolitan area. The 12-wk nutritional intervention consisted of 2 courses on nutrition and 7 individual sessions with a dietitian. A score based on the 11 components of the Mediterranean pyramid was established to determine the women's adherence to the Mediterranean food pattern. Plasma ox-LDL concentrations were measured by a monoclonal antibody mAb-4E6-based competition ELISA. Among all women, plasma ox-LDL decreased by 11.3% after 12 wk of nutritional intervention (P < 0.0001) despite a lack of change in plasma LDL cholesterol (LDL-C). Also, an increase in the Mediterranean dietary score was significantly correlated with a decrease in ox-LDL concentrations (r = -0.30; P = 0.01). More specifically, increases in servings of fruits (r = -0.25; P < 0.05) and vegetables (r = -0.24; P < 0.05) were associated with decreases in ox-LDL concentrations. Changes in the food pattern in response to a nutritional intervention promoting the Mediterranean food pattern were accompanied by beneficial effects in circulating ox-LDL concentrations in healthy women. KEY WORDS: * Mediterranean diet * oxidized LDL * nutritional intervention * women

Abstract Objective To evaluate the validity (study 1) and the reproducibility (study 2) of an interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Method The FFQ was designed at Laval University and contains 91 items and 33 subquestions. Study 1: The FFQ was compared against a 3-day food record (2 week-days and 1 weekend-day), at week 0, 6 and 12 of a nutritional intervention. Study 2: In order to evaluate the reproducibility of the FFQ, 2 registered dietitians administered the FFQ 4-weeks apart among subjects who were not part of the nutritional intervention. Results Study 1: Mean values for intake of most nutrients assessed by the FFQ and by the 3-day food record were not statistically different. Energy-adjusted correlation coefficients for major macronutrients ranged from 0.36 for proteins to 0.60 for carbohydrates (p ≤ 0.01). Agreement analysis revealed that on average, 35% of the subjects were classified in the same quartile when nutrients were assessed by either the 3-day food record or the FFQ. Study 2: Significant associations were observed between dietary measurements derived from the two FFQs administered 4 weeks apart. Correlation coefficients for the reproducibility of macronutrients ranged from 0.66 for carbohydrates to 0.83 for lipids after energy adjustment. On average, 46% of the subjects were classified in the same quartile when nutrient intakes were assessed by either FFQ. Conclusion These data indicated that the FFQ developed has a good validity and is reproducible.

Perception and motor control traditionally are studied separately. However, motor activity can serve as a scaffold to shape the sensory flow. This tight link between motor actions and sensing is particularly evident in active sensory systems. Here, we investigate how the weakly electric mormyrid fish Gnathonemus petersii of undetermined sex structure their sensing and motor behavior while learning a perceptual task. We find systematic adjustments of the motor behavior that correlate with an increased performance. Using a model to compute the electrosensory input, we show that these behavioral adjustments improve the sensory input. As we find low neuronal detection thresholds at the level of medullary electrosensory neurons, it seems that the behavior-driven improvements of the sensory input are highly suitable to overcome the sensory limitations, thereby increasing the sensory range. Our results show that motor control is an active component of sensory learning, demonstrating that a detailed understanding of contribution of motor actions to sensing is needed to understand even seemingly simple behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This article discusses the development and pretesting of key visual imagery in a promotional campaign developed in Quebec, Canada. This campaign is the media-based component of a broader prevention strategy involving the use of the Triple P program (Sanders, 1999).Objectives: The purpose was to pretest with parents the preliminary version of a poster that uses the campaign's key visual imagery prior to final production.Method: In total, 26 parents from the regions of Quebec City and Montreal participated in four focus groups.Results: Two general themes emerged from the focus groups: (i) emotions and reactions arising from the key visual imagery; and (ii) comprehension of the message being conveyed.Conclusion: Based on this information, recommendations were made to the marketing agency, which then modified the campaign's key visual imagery and proposed a final layout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friction ridge skin is elastic and thus undergoes deformation when subjected to deposition pressure and movement. This study quantified deformation in a fingerprint when performing three and five millimeter, left and right, sliding movements at high, medium, and low deposition pressures. Latent fingerprints were deposited on a glass plate, developed with Chemist Gray powder, and analyzed using Adobe Photoshop. For the analysis, three distinct minutiae were selected in the prints: the core, a minutia to the left of the core, and a minutia to the right of the core. The distances between these three minutia were compared before and after movement as a percent difference to determine the effect of the following variables on deformation: deposition pressure, movement direction, fingerprint pattern (loop, whorl, or arch), distance travelled during deposition, and age of the participant. It was found that most movement conditions decreased the distance between the three points, as compared to the stationary condition, which was shown by a negative percent difference. Also, three millimeter movements resulted in less deformation than five millimeter movements overall. The other variables that were investigated did not have as large of an effect as was anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]