The brain-sex theory of occupational choice: a counterexample

The brain-sex theory of occupational choice suggests that males and females in male-typical careers show a male pattern of cognitive ability in terms of better spatial than verbal performance on cognitive tests with the reverse pattern for females and males in female-typical careers, These differences are thought to result from patterns of cerebral functional lateralisation. This study Sought Such occupationally related effects using synonym generation (verbal ability) and mental rotation (spatial ability) tasks used previously. It also used entrants to these careers as participants to examine whether patterns of cognitive abilities might predate explicit training and practice. Using a population of entrants to sex-differentiated University Courses, a moderate occupational effect on the synonym generation task was found, along with a weak (p<.10) sex effect on the mental rotation task. Highest performance on the mental rotation task was by female Students in fashion design, a female-dominated occupation which makes substantial visuospatial demands and attracts many students with literacy problems such as dyslexia. This group then appears to be a counterexample to the brain-sex theory. However, methodological issues Surrounding previous Studies are highlighted: the simple synonym task appears to show limited discrimination of the sexes, leading to questions concerning the legitimacy of inferences about lateralisation based on scores from that test. Moreover, the human figure-based mental rotation task appears to tap the wrong aspect of visuospatial skill, likely to be needed for male-typical courses such as engineering, Since the fashion-clesign career is also one that attracts disproportionately many male students whose sexual orientation is homosexual, data were examined for evidence of female-typical patterns of cognitive performance among that subgroup. This was not found. This study therefore provides Do evidence for the claim that female-pattern cerebral functional lateralisation is likely in gay males.

Pope as media star: a long career full of reinvention

On the whole, a man who is elected as Pope is well on in years. Some, despite this, have managed to reign for a long time, Leo XIII for instance who came to the throne when he was already seventy in 1878, reigned for twenty five years. Wojtyla was elected when he was only fifty eight, in 1978. In the last century or so, the papacy has become visible worldwide through the mass media. On his accession, Wojtyla was presented as a man's man, a sportsman - according to Professor Eamon Duffy of Cambridge University - as a Bishop with balls. Like other media stars who have stayed the test of time, e.g. Madonna, David Bowie, it seems that he has been able to reinvent his media image to some extent; from the active sportsman to the benevolent grandfather to the ailing figure we see today. He has taken on the aspect of a media star, a world traveller, a spiritual leader, a politician, a mediator and a peace leader. He has been described as the most-photographed person on the planet. This paper will attempt to trace these changes and to ascertain, using Vatican and media sources to discover how much of this continual change is driven by the personality of John Paul himself and how much is a deliberate policy on the part of the Vatican.

中国四个城市吸引海外回流人才比较研究：一个政策的视角 (Returned highly skilled migrants in four Chinese cities: a policy perspective)

Most studies of returned highly skilled migrants in China were guided by a national approach, emphasizing how the size and direction of the return migration were shaped by national policies and practices. What have been overlooked are the flows of returned skills at the municipal level where talent attraction and employment really take place. To fill this gap, the author conducted a comparative study of the returned highly-skilled migration in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the four most important cities in China. Based on in-depth interviews with returned skills from different countries and with various occupational backgrounds, complemented by the analysis of talent policies that have been issued by each city since the early 1990s and relevant statistical data, this study finds that, first, municipal cities tend to make ‘localized policies’ in order to suit local situation and to increase flexibility and efficiency in their effort of enticing of talents, demonstrating a wide range of variations not yet discussed in previous literature. It is thus crucial to pay timely attention to municipalities in order to obtain a more accurate and balanced picture of returned skilled migration in China. Second, the flow of returned skills shall be perceived in a broader analytical framework, in which the attractiveness to skills comes mostly from the long-term career potentials made possible by the industrial structure of individual city and mediated by social, cultural and geographical factors. It is only within this larger framework and through the interaction with other factors that government policies play their modulator roles.