Varieties of hybrid systemic governance in European Higher Education

Over the last 30 years, governments have continuously adjusted their Higher Education policies to make universities more efficient (achieving more by spending less) and more effective (by increasing the percentage of graduates, by reducing the number of university dropouts and by focusing more on the third mission). At the core of governmental endeavours to reform Higher Education lies the redesign of the actual governance mode: governments have not only changed the general principles of Higher Education governance but also continuously changed the mix of those policy instruments they have chosen to adopt. The steering at a distance/supervisory/supermarket model appears to be unable to cover these differentiated trends; in fact, scholars have underlined that each country has designed its own hybrid interpretation of the common template. This paper focuses on this issue, describing how governance has been hybridised at the systemic level and detailing the content of these changes, operationalised with regards to policy instruments together with two financial dimensions. It emerges that three types of hybrid systemic governance modes are actually present in Europe: a performance‐based mode, a re‐regulated mode and a systemic goal‐oriented mode.     

Part of imperial communications

From 1934 to 1941, three British-governed radio stations were established in the Middle East: Egyptian State Broadcasting (ESB) in Cairo (1934), the Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS) in Jerusalem (1936), and the Near East Broadcasting Service (NEBS) in Jaffa (1941). These three stations were modeled on the BBC and run as colonial or imperial stations—but they were also considered national stations. As a result, they operated as hybrid entities with overlapping and sometimes conflicting mandates. Through the three case studies—a contentious hire at the ESB, the PBS' ‘Jerusalem Direct News Service’, and the NEBS' Islamic broadcasts—this article charts the evolving relationship between Great Britain and its Arab-world radio stations, examining these three stations in tandem tension between national and regional broadcasting mandates, as well as the challenge that managing each station raised for British officials in the UK and in-country. It moves away from a focus on the disembodied spheres of ideology and propaganda, and toward the messy administrative decisions that reflected British officials' on-the-ground efforts to navigate the administrative control and programming decisions in the perplexing world of semi-independent radio broadcasting stations in the Middle East. It closes by noting that while UK-based British officials saw these three stations as operating under the aegis of British governance and on the model of the BBC, the ESB and the PBS, in particular, reflected and projected not a British imperial identity but an Egyptian and a Palestinian nationalist one.     

Teens,Libraries, and Social Media: Myths and Reality

This article presents a brief overview of research relating to teens, libraries, and social media. It also summarizes a recent multimethod study of how public and school libraries fit into U.S. teens’ increasingly online information lives. The study results debunk five popular myths about teens and social media and reveal many positive ways that teens are using social media to connect with peers and adults and to seek and share information. The article concludes with a discussion of the role that libraries can play in designing services and programs to encourage teens to engage in positive social media use.     

An Innovative Use of Instant Messaging Technology to Support a Library's Single-Service Point

A library service model that provides reference and instructional services by summoning reference librarians from a single service point is described. The system utilizes Libraryh3lp, an open-source, multioperator instant messaging system. The selection and refinement of this solution and technical challenges encountered are explored, as is the design of public services around this technology, usage of the system, and best practices. This service model, while a major cultural and procedural change at first, is now a routine aspect of customer service for this library.     

Beyond “J-Tweeters”

Based on a survey (N?=?1613) directed to members of the Norwegian Journalist Association (NJ), this paper presents an extensive overview of the ways in which comparably older and newer online platforms have been incorporated into the professional lives of Norwegian journalists. While plenty of research is available that explores the uses of Twitter by journalists, the results presented here suggest that Facebook is by far the most frequently used platform throughout the journalistic process—from collecting information, distributing content and engaging with readers. Statistical analyses provide further insights into which variables appear to influence certain modes of usage across the studied platforms. Based on the results, the argument is made that the advantages of using Facebook as a platform for journalistic practices are obvious due to its popularity among the general public, but that this utilization of one platform over others also could be problematic. As Facebook continues to gain leverage towards the newspapers they host, questions of journalistic practices need to come to the fore.     

The effects of surface traction characteristics on frictional demand and kinematics in tennis

The interaction between footwear and surfaces influences the forces experienced by tennis players. The purpose of this study was to investigate traction demand and kinematic adaptation during tennis-specific movements with changes in traction characteristics of surfaces. We hypothesised that players would increase the utilised coefficient of friction (horizontal to vertical ground reaction force ratio) when the shoe surface combination had a high coefficient of friction and flex their knee after contact to facilitate braking. Eight participants performed two separate movements, side jump out of stance and running forehand. Ground reaction force was measured and three-dimensional kinematic data were recorded. Clay surface and cushioned acrylic hard court (low vs. high shoe–surface friction) were used. The peak utilised coefficient of friction was greater on clay than the hard court. The knee was less flexed at impact on clay ( ? 5.6 ± 10.2°) and at peak flexion ( ? 13.1 ± 12.0°) during the running forehand. Our results indicate that tennis players adapt the level of utilised friction according to the characteristics of the surface, and this adaptation favours sliding on the low friction surface. Less knee flexion facilitates sliding on clay, whereas greater knee flexion contributes to braking on the hard court.     

Making Science Relevant: The Experiences of Prospective Elementary School Teachers in an Innovative Science Content Course

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Classroom Learning Environments and Students' Approaches to Learning

Four hundred and eighty-four students from two metropolitan secondary schools completed the Learning Process Questionnaire, the Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire and the Learner Self Concept scale. Relationships between perceptions of the classroom learning environment, approaches to learning and self concept as a learner were investigated. Gender and level of schooling (junior high versus senior high) differences were examined. Results showed Deep Approaches to learning were significantly related to classroom learning environments which were perceived to be highly personalised and to be encouraging active participation in the learning process and the use of investigative skills in learning activities. High learner self concept was positively associated with Deep Approaches to learning and with classrooms perceived as high in Personalisation. It was negatively associated with Surface Approaches to learning. Differences in perceptions of learning environments and approaches to learning in relation to gender and level of schooling were small. The implications of these findings are discussed and strategies for facilitating Deep Approaches to learning are referred to. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Revenue and attendance simultaneous optimization in performing arts organizations

Performing arts organizations are characterized by different objectives other than revenue. Even if, on the one hand, theaters aim to increase revenue from box office as a consequence of the systematic reduction in public funds; on the other hand, they pursue the objective to increase its attendance. A common practice by theaters is to provide incentives to customers to discriminate among themselves according to their reservation price, offering a schedule of different prices corresponding to different seats in the venue. In this context, price and allocation of the theater seating area is decision variables that allow theater managers to manage their two conflicting goals to be pursued. In this paper, we introduce a multi-objective optimization model that jointly considers pricing and seat allocation. The framework proposed integrates a choice model estimated by multinomial logit model and the demand forecast, taking into account the impact of heterogeneity among customer categories in both choice and demand. The proposed model is validated with booking data referring to the Royal Danish theater during the period 2010–2015.