The European university landscape: A micro characterization based on evidence from the Aquameth project

This paper provides a new and systematic characterization of 488 universities, from 11 European countries: Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and UK. Using micro indicators built on the integrated Aquameth database, we characterize the European university landscape according to the following dimensions: history/foundation of university, dynamics of growth, specialization pattern, subject mix, funding composition, offer profile and productivity.     

Connecting to nature at the zoo: implications for responding to climate change

Societal response to climate change has been inadequate. A perception that the issue is both physically and temporally remote may reduce concern; concern may also be affected by the political polarization surrounding the issue in the USA. A feeling of connection to nature or to animals may increase personal relevance, and a supportive social context may counteract political tensions. Zoos may provide opportunities for both sense of connection and social support. We surveyed over 7000 zoo and aquarium visitors to examine the ways in which a feeling of personal connection among zoo visitors may encourage concern about climate change. Results show that feeling connected to animals at the zoo is significantly associated with cognitive and emotional responses to climate change, as well as with other social groupings and social responses. Overall, the zoo seems to present a supportive social context for considering the topic.     

职业院校精准资助工作体系的建构与应用

目前职业院校资助工作存在的突出问题有资助对象认定较为简单、资助实施举措较为单一、资助管理模式较为粗放。据此,文章提出职业院校精准资助工作体系的建构:建构资助对象的精准认定体系、建构资助实施的精准方法体系、建构资助过程的精准管理体系。最后说明了职业院校精准资助工作体系的应用:在资助对象的认定上注重定量与定性结合、在资助实施的方法上满足学生个性化需求、在资助管理的手段上建立信息化工作系统。     

Recent Developments in the Funding of University Research

The UGC norm-based allocation of 1986, the current proposals for the rationalisation of departments, and the proposals of the Advisory Board for the Research Councils (ABRC) for R, X and T class universities are assessed against the actual operations of productive science departments and their patterns of expenditure on research as revealed born a recent sample survey. It is concluded that the UGC's norm-based allocation did not in any systematic way secure increases related to current research activity except for those cases where this came from the student number-based teaching element. Only the creation of larger departments seems likely to increase research output, and often that will best be achieved by increases in student numbers and their associated funding. Institutions similar to T class universities can be achieved by encouraging the recruitment of students at the expense of the public sector, but the distribution between R and X class universities is unsustainable.     

The effects of exercise in hypoxic and normoxic conditions on endothelin-1 and arterial compliance

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of short-term normoxic and hypoxic exercise on plasma endothelin-1 and nitric oxide levels, and the relationship of arterial compliance and pulmonary artery pressure to endothelin-1. Seven endurance-trained males completed two incremental and two steady-state exercise tests performed at ventilatory threshold in normoxia and hypoxia (fraction of inspired oxygen = 0.14). Plasma endothelin-1was measured throughout steady-state tests. Arterial compliance using applanation tonometry, plasma nitric oxide and pulmonary artery pressure using Doppler echocardiography were measured before and after exercise. Small arterial compliance and pulmonary artery pressure significantly increased following exercise. There were no main effects of condition or time for plasma endothelin-1and nitric oxide levels. There were no significant relationships between plasma endothelin-1 and arterial compliance or pulmonary artery pressure. In conclusion, mechanisms other than the endothelial system may play a role in the exercise-induced changes in small artery compliance in this study population. Moderate hypoxia and a 30-minute steady-state exercise have limited effects on plasma endothelin-1 in endurance-trained males.     

性别表演与反思社会学

布迪厄为后现代女性主义研究者提供了反思社会学和惯习等学术理念和社会学方法,试图通过对朱迪斯．邑特勒的性别表演理论的解读和释疑来发掘布迪厄对女性主义社会学的贡献。     

Positive emotions: passionate scholarship and student transformation

This paper challenges the practical and conceptual understanding of the role of emotions in higher education from the twin perspectives of transition and transformation. Focusing on the neglected area of positive emotions, exploratory data reveal a rich, low-level milieu of undergraduate emotional awareness in students chiefly attributed to pedagogic actions, primarily extrinsically orientated, and pervasive throughout the learning experience. The data conceive positive affect as oppositional, principally ephemeral and linked to performative pedagogic endeavours of getting, knowing and doing. A cyclical social dynamic of reciprocity, generating positive feedback loops, is highlighted. Finally we inductively construct a tentative ‘emotion-transition framework’ to assist our understanding of positive emotion as a force for transformational change; our contention is that higher education might proactively craft pedagogic spaces so as to unite the feeling discourse, the thinking discourse (epistemological self) and the wider life-self (ontological) discourse.     

National and international disability rights legislation: a qualitative account of its enactment in Australia

In this paper, a detailed analysis based on the lived experiences of the study participants and the researcher (each with vision impairment) in education, post school and in the pursuit for employment is developed. The policy discourses of disability legislation – both at national and international levels – are explored with particular reference to their enactment in Australia. The analysis focuses on the collective indifference to detached others, which is evident in the linguistic construction of people with disabilities in the United Nations [(2006). Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New York: United Nations] and the Australian Standards for Education 2005 [Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. 2006. Disability Standards for Education 2005 Plus Guidance Notes. Accessed March 12, 2012. http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-7692.]. Together, these elements reflect the neoliberal principles that cast a shadow over the discourses of the disability policies.     

Content and Context of the Administrative Internship: How Mentoring and Sustained Activities Impact Preparation

As universities prepare educational leaders for twenty-first century schools, the quality and authenticity of the internship experience require both the strengths of university faculty and the expertise of practitioners to create authentic experiences that seek to bridge the theory-to-practice divide. One mechanism to achieve this is through quality mentorship by school- and central-office-based personnel during the internship experience. A central aspect of this professional relationship is the ability for the mentor to provide access to quality activities that will prepare the aspiring leader for his/her first administrative position. This exploratory study examined language utilized by interns in their time logs as well as information gleaned from preliminary surveys of both interns and mentors upon completion of their experience. Findings revealed the complexity of language analysis and revealed a need for understanding activities of interns and interactions with mentors in a contextual fashion.