A public value perspective for ICT enabled public sector reforms: A theoretical reflection

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical discussion of information system adoption in the public sector (often referred to as e-government) and to contribute to the debate by offering a public value perspective. The paper points to the public value paradigm as an alternative approach to studying ICT-enabled public sector reforms. This paradigm, we argue, proposes an alternative way of framing the nature of the problems faced when ICT enabled public sector reforms are initiated and studied. The public value perspective proposes a new and richer context in which to study and research these phenomena. It also calls for the redefinition of the ways we assess e-government in the context of public sector reforms. It is therefore seen as vital to evaluate the socio-political impact of ICT adoption in the public sector.     

Developing audience awareness in writing

Beginning writers need to consider their audience; but this is only possible when the writer has reached a certain stage of cognitive development, as it is necessary to consider an absent reality (e.g. an audience reading the piece at a later point). Adapting the text to the audience is only possible when the physical task of writing becomes automatic and the writer is no longer absorbed by it. Then the writer is free to pay attention to other aspects of the task without overloading cognitive processes. Procedural facilitation involves the use of external aids to support a simplified version of the processes used by expert writers. It may function as a way of enabling beginning writers to adapt what they write for their audiences. At the same time, as this task becomes automatic, it may be seen as a way of promoting writing development. A quasi–experimental study is described in which a procedural facilitation strategy is used to promote writing skills, in particular, the skill of suiting the text to the communicative context. The study was with fifth and ninth grade Portuguese students. The results of the post–test show significant progress for the experimental groups in contrast to the control groups.     

Ecological dynamics of continuous and categorical decision-making: The regatta start in sailing

Abstract

Ecological dynamics of decision-making in the sport of sailing exemplifies emergent, conditionally coupled, co-adaptive behaviours. In this study, observation of the coupling dynamics of paired boats during competitive sailing showed that decision-making can be modelled as a self-sustained, co-adapting system of informationally coupled oscillators (boats). Bytracing the spatial–temporal displacements of the boats, time series analyses (autocorrelations, periodograms and running correlations) revealed that trajectories of match racing boats are coupled more than 88% of the time during a pre-start race, via continuous, competing co-adaptions between boats. Results showed that both the continuously selected trajectories of the sailors (12 years of age) and their categorical starting point locations were examples of emergent decisions. In this dynamical conception of decision-making behaviours, strategic positioning (categorical) and continuous displacement of a boat over the course in match-race sailing emerged as a function of interacting task, personal and environmental constraints. Results suggest how key interacting constraints could be manipulated in practice to enhance sailors' perceptual attunement to them in competition.     

Measuring the effectiveness of online problem solving for improving academic performance in a probability course

Education and Information Technologies - Research on impact in student achievement of online homework systems compared to traditional methods is ambivalent. Methodological issues in the study...     

Unveiling the Colours of Cellulose Nitrate Black and White Film-based Negatives in Colonial Photography

ABSTRACT

Aiming at contributing to the preservation of black and white (B&W) film-based negatives held by Portuguese archives, four photographic collections from the first half of the twentieth century were selected for study. During the macro assessment of the collections the preservation condition and hues found in photographic negatives from the Elmano Cunha e Costa (ECC) were noticed, distinguishing this collection from the remaining ones. Additional attention was given considering that the ECC collection was formed in a colonial context in the 1930s, while the others were formed on the Portugal mainland. The ECC collection results from an ethnographic survey of Angolan tribes recorded with B&W film-based negatives. In this collection, sets of negatives with pink, lemon yellow, greenish, orange brownish, and red brownish hues were found. To identify the origin of such hues, the image layer was analysed by microscale energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (μ EDXRF) and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Additionally, to assess the base decay and its effect on the formation of hues, the plastic supports were characterized by Fourier transform infrared microscopy (μ FTIR). To complement the assessment of the film-base decay, pH was measured by using combined microelectrodes. The identification of mercury, iodine, chromium, and iron by μ EDXRF allowed correlation of the hues found in the negatives with chemical corrective treatments performed to improve the image quality. SEM-EDX confirmed those results and proved that the elements found were in the photographic emulsion layer. The results obtained are relevant since the hues identified may now be used as markers to indicate the technical work performed on colonial photography. Additionally, the visual and molecular assessment of the negatives’ supports (good to fair condition) allow proposing that the original storage conditions may have had a beneficial contribution to their present condition.     

Insights into user engagement on social media. Case study of a higher education institution

ABSTRACT

The interactions of users in social networks have been analyzed in the literature as sources of information on their ability to generate engagement among stakeholders in higher education institutes, which make more tactical than strategic use of social networks. This study helps identify which variables generate greater participation in Instagram users, providing strategic proposals for digital marketing. From the codification of all the publications published by a university in a social network site during the period of one year, a comparative analysis was carried out through a multivariate model. The results provide important and timely implications for both universities and higher education professionals. Our findings suggest that higher education marketing specialists should develop stronger and more consistent communication strategies to establish more valuable relationships with stakeholders. The administrators of the social networks of higher education institutions can find patterns in those publications that generate a greater participation in this study.     

Specific Learning Disabilities and the Portuguese Educational System

Although the Portuguese educational system advocates the accommodation of all students in regular schools, it has not adopted a coherent discourse that would contribute to meeting effectively the needs of students with specific learning disabilities (SLD). As such, the successive reorganizations of special education have resulted in uninformed decisions that have caused the education of students with SLD in Portugal to be, in many instances, detrimental to their academic and social growth. We describe the reality of SLD in Portugal, considering four main topics: (1) the establishment of the SLD concept, (2) the birth of a Portuguese definition of SLD, (3) the context of educational policy, and (4) the provision for students with SLD.     

Assessing quality characteristics of center-based early childhood environments in Germany and Portugal: A cross-national study

Based on the knowledge that direct assessment of the quality of early childhood educational environments is becoming more and more important, this article deals with a coordinated adaptation of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) in Germany and Portugal. The ECERS, developed by Harms and Clifford (1980), is a complex rating scale, comprising 37 items, which is implemented to assess major quality characteristics of early childhood classrooms and has been used quite extensively in the US as well as in other countries. In this article we describe how the scale was adapted and we report selected results of a jointly coordinated comparative study on a sample of 103 early childhood classrooms in Germany and 88 in Portugal. The classrooms were classified according to three different types in each country. In particular, we report the item characteristics of the adapted versions, reliabilities and intercorrelations of the total scale and the apriori-subscales, and results of factor analyses. A one-way ANOVA indicates group differences between the six types of classrooms which can be meaningfully interpreted.