The public response to innovative strategies for the control of biodeterioration in archaeological hypogea

Between April and September 2003, 1500 visitors of the Catacomb of St. Callistus participated to a scientific research by filling in a questionnaire to express their opinion about a new illumination system experimentally set up in the Ocean’s Cubiculum. Their answers were statistically evaluated and represented the first public opinions on this archaeological site, including their knowledge of conservation problems and their positive attitude towards the use of new strategies for the preservation of this monument.     

Funding incentives, collaborative dynamics and scientific productivity: Evidence from the EU framework program

In this paper we examine how incentives for collaboration shape collaborative behavior and researcher productivity in the context of EU-funded research networks. EU-funded research networks require researchers to collaborate as a condition for securing research funding. The presence of research funding, therefore, may influence collaborative behavior. Our approach involves isolating the effects of funding, collaboration and previous collaborations (prior to funding) on research output, and examining how the pattern of collaboration affects research productivity over time. Employing a panel of 294 researchers in 39 EU research networks over a 15-year period we find that while the impact of funding on productivity is generally positive the overall impact of collaboration within the funded networks is weak. When we delineate between pre-, during- and post-funding periods, however, we find some important differences. During the period of funding, collaboration did not lead to an increase in research production. In the post-funding period we find that although the number of collaborations decreases within the network, the impact of collaboration on productivity is positive and significant. Our findings suggest that collaborations formed to capitalize on funding opportunities, while not effective in enhancing researcher productivity in the short run, may be an important promoter of effective collaborations in the longer run.     

Intellectual capital management in practice: assessment of implementation and outcomes

In recent decades, a huge variety of models for managing intellectual capital (IC) have been generated. However, understanding how IC management (ICM) models operate in practice and the issues that may be encountered when they are implemented remain a challenging issue. This is because there seems to be a significant gap between the enthusiastic development of ICM models in theory and the application of these models in companies. Therefore, more practically grounded research needs to be carried out. Reporting on action research projects and an interview study, this paper enriches the existing theoretical and framework-oriented IC literature by examining empirically the implementation of ICM projects and their outcomes in six Finnish companies. The findings of the paper include the challenges and success factors affecting the development of ICM projects, likewise the related outcomes and benefits. This provides useful insights for applying ICM to practice.     

Diagnostic investigations and statistical validation of EDXRF mapping of the burial monument of Pope Sixtus IV by Antonio Pollaiolo (1493) in the Vatican

It has become a common practice to include diagnostics and archaeometric studies during a masterpiece restoration. The advantages and limits of this approach are now topic of discussion in the community of researchers that is growing up quickly. The bronze burial monument of Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84) by Antonio del Pollaiolo, now in the Treasure Museum in the Vatican was intended to be located at the center of a chapel, this explains its apparent asymmetry: lack of height and large base. The restoration of the burial monument started in May 2007, it was carried out by first fulfilling a series of non-invasive analyses using a transportable EDXRF to map the composition of the alloy and evaluate the diagnostic capabilities for deterioration processes of the bronze surface. As a consequence of the first non-invasive diagnostic campaign, a second campaign of micro invasive tests was planned and carried out. The samples were analysed with SEM-EDS and XRF techniques. In this article some of the results of the EDXRF tests will be shown together with the procedures set up to maximize the diagnostic information obtained and minimize the need of microsampling from the artefact. The results and the statistical analysis of data show that a straightforward planning of the measurements can give several, sometimes unexpected, results in the definition of the state of conservation of the monument and also from an archaeometric point of view. With a high amount of data, the use of statistical analysis is necessary, for example in our case, the analysis of the variance confirmed the hypothesis of the use of different alloys for the elements of the panels.     

Language proficiency and language policy in South Africa: Findings from new data

This study explores new data from 2008 on language proficiency and labour market outcomes in the context of South Africa's language-in-education policy. We show that the economic returns to English language proficiency are large and higher than those to home language proficiency for the majority of employed South Africans. This helps explain why there is little incentive to switch to an African language as the language of instruction in schools. However, we show also that African adults are significantly more likely to be proficient in English if they are proficient in their home language. This finding supports the arguments of additive bilingualism, which identify the benefits of extended mother-tongue education for the acquisition of second-language skills.     

A Nation of Speechifiers: Making An American Public After the Revolution

LINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION AND SPEECH ACTS. By Kent Bach and Robert M. Harnish. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1979; pp. xvii+284. $19.95.

EVERYDAY LANGUAGE: STUDIES IN ETHNOMETHODOLOGY. Edited by George Psathas. New York: Halsted Press, 1979; pp. 1+299. $18.50.

STUDIES IN THE ORGANIZATION OF CONVERSATIONAL INTERACTION. Edited by Jim Schenkein. New York: Academic Press, 1978; pp. ix+275. $19.00.

SOCIAL INTERACTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS. By P. D. Ashworth. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 1979; pp. 227. $15.50 (paper).     

The Benefits of an Augmented Reality Magic Mirror System for Integrated Radiology Teaching in Gross Anatomy

Early exposure to radiological cross-section images during introductory anatomy and dissection courses increases students’ understanding of both anatomy and radiology. Novel technologies such as augmented reality (AR) offer unique advantages for an interactive and hands-on integration with the student at the center of the learning experience. In this article, the benefits of a previously proposed AR Magic Mirror system are compared to the Anatomage, a virtual dissection table as a system for combined anatomy and radiology teaching during a two-semester gross anatomy course with 749 first-year medical students, as well as a follow-up elective course with 72 students. During the former, students worked with both systems in dedicated tutorial sessions which accompanied the anatomy lectures and provided survey-based feedback. In the elective course, participants were assigned to three groups and underwent a self-directed learning session using either Anatomage, Magic Mirror, or traditional radiology atlases. A pre- and posttest design with multiple choice questions revealed significant improvements in test scores between the two tests for both the Magic Mirror and the group using radiology atlases, while no significant differences in test scores were recorded for the Anatomage group. Furthermore, especially students with low mental rotation test (MRT) scores benefited from the Magic Mirror and Anatomage and achieved significantly higher posttest scores compared to students with a low MRT score in the theory group. Overall, the results provide supporting evidence that the Magic Mirror system achieves comparable results in terms of learning outcome to established anatomy learning tools such as Anatomage and radiology atlases.     

Family influence on undergraduates’ career choice implementation

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This study examined the influence of family on career choice implementation, assuming that implementation can be assessed through...     

Moral impasses in sustainability education? Empirical results from school geography in Austria and Germany

Abstract

The expert-driven and normative character of sustainability education aims to promote societal transformation and global change. While some authors underline the ethical claims of education, others have criticized that there is a problematic tendency to prescribe certain actions beyond ethical education. The article aims to provide an empirical contribution, including students’ and teachers’ perspectives, and geography textbooks, to the debate. Based on the results of an empirical study with 1001 secondary school students in Austria and Germany, we discuss the “ethical turn” and the moral code in sustainability education. The questionnaires are completed with students’ drawings, qualitative interviews with geography teachers and an analysis of geography textbooks. We argue that most students have a precise idea what sustainability and sustainable behavior means, but they harbor right-wrong binary perceptions of sustainable lifestyles. Many students lack knowledge of the interdependence of consumption and production networks, which impedes the understanding of complex sustainability patterns. Therefore, we recommend pluralistic and interconnected perspectives in sustainability, in the frame of school geography. A more democratic classroom contributes to develop an own moral compass. Additionally, passion and participatory approaches can help students reflect on their affective relationships with consumer goods and consider alternative consumption-production paradigms.