Acceleration Nation: An Investigation into the Violence of Speed and the Uses of Accidents in Iceland

Abstract

There are two starting points from which this paper is constructed: first, Virilio’s observation that the wealth of societies is founded on their dromocratic condition, that the faster societies accelerate their citizens, commercial goods and communication the more political and economic power they have and, second, the links that he traces between technologies of speed and acceleration and the accident. We suggest that Virilio’s ideas on this invite and deserve a closer ethnographic scrutiny than they have so far received, scrutiny that highlights the varied ways in which speed, acceleration and the accident are articulated in different cultural contexts. To this end we offer an investigation into the dromocratic condition, the violence of speed and the uses of accidents in Iceland.     

Tres pies al gato: significado,sentido y cultura cotidiana en la educación

Resumen

Se pasa revista en este artículo a los tres ejes que conforman la línea de investigación de los autores en psicología de la educación, a saber, considerar la arquitectura, no sólo cognitiva, sino instrumental y cultural, del significado; la necesidad de unir en la investigación y en el diseño educativo las vertientes de significado y de sentido que caracterizan el funcionamiento psicológico de los individuos, y que solo se articulan sobre la base de sistemas de actividad; por último, la necesidad de contemplar las formas de representación humanas menos formalizadas y desdeñadas hasta hace muy poco por la psicología de la educación: las denominadas bajo el epígrafe de conocimiento informal. En torno a estos tres ejes, se exponen ejemplos de investigación y de intervención que conforman lo que hemos denominado diseño cultural.     

Comprehensiveness and diversity in secondary compulsory education in andalusia: an unresolved challenge

This article outlines the contradictions and challenges of introducing comprehensive, compulsory education in Andalusia for students up to the age of 16. Following a documenting of the developments, it is argued that while the intention was for a significant, planned reform, it is better characterised as one that is, at best, an improvisation. The article discusses the continuing difficulties that may be attributed to a number of policies of the Conservative government of the day, which allowed the development of two systems of education that were not grounded in concepts of equity and social justice to evolve. The work of John Elliott has been acknowledged as an important influence upon the inquiry that was undertaken and the subsequent analysis of its results. Thus, not only are the results of an action-orientated study reported here, but also there is an extensive set of guiding principles that could enable the reform to be truly actualised.     

An unexpected world population variation of MCT1 polymorphism 1470T > A involved in lactate transport

A common missense mutation (1470T > A) in gene SLC16A1 responsible for an amino acid substitution in protein MCT1 has been associated with differential lactate transport and hence, differences in physical performance and muscle injuries in relation to physical exercise. This study describes, for the first time, the worldwide variation of MCT1 variant 1470T > A at an intra- and inter-continental level. Two thousand five hundred and four individual genotypes of 26 populations clustered in 5 population groups have been analysed with data downloaded from the public database 1000 Genomes Phase 3 Browser. Several parameters of population differentiation and structure have been explored as well as selection signatures in the whole gene. Allele T, the common variant, shows extremely high values in Sub-Saharan African groups (frequencies 86–91%) as compared with the remaining world regions (69–49%). TT genotype also predominates in African groups, showing significant differences with the rest of world populations. In view of the evidence that the TT genotype is associated with clinical implications and a better predisposition to sprint/power performances, we suggest that the high presence of the TT genotype in African populations should be taken into account in future association studies at both medical and sports fields.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: The moderating role of resilience in the relationship between academic burnout and the perception of psychological health in nursing students

The objective of this study was to analyse the role of resilience in the dimensions of academic burnout syndrome and psychological health in a sample of nursing students. A battery of questionnaires was administered to 218 nursing students, all of whom were in the second year of their degree at the University of Murcia (Spain). The applied protocol used the CD-RISC 10 scale for the measurement of resilience, the burnout scale MBI, and the GHQ-12 questionnaire to assess psychological health. The findings showed a significant relationship between resilience and burnout, emotional exhaustion and self-efficacy, as well as with psychological health. Moreover, three burnout dimensions were found to be significantly linked to psychological health in the way we had predicted. A stepwise regression analysis indicated the moderating role of resilience on psychological health in emotionally exhausting situations. We conclude that the psychological characteristic resilience moderated the effect of emotional exhaustion on the psychological health of the students. The practical implications of the results are discussed in order to introduce measures for the proper training of nursing students for professional practice; we also make several suggestions for future research in this field.     

Learning from human cadaveric prosections: Examining anxiety in speech therapy students

Human anatomy education often utilizes the essential practices of cadaver dissection and examination of prosected specimens. However, these exposures to human cadavers and confronting death can be stressful and anxiety‐inducing for students. This study aims to understand the attitudes, reactions, fears, and states of anxiety that speech therapy students experience in the dissection room. To that end, a before‐and‐after cross‐sectional analysis was conducted with speech therapy students undertaking a dissection course for the first time. An anonymous questionnaire was administered before and after the exercise to understand students' feelings and emotions. State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaires (STAI‐S and STAI‐T) were used to evaluate anxiety levels. The results of the study revealed that baseline anxiety levels measured using the STAI‐T remained stable and unchanged during the dissection room experience (P > 0.05). Levels of emotional anxiety measured using the STAI‐S decreased, from 15.3 to 11.1 points (P < 0.05). In the initial phase of the study, before any contact with the dissection room environment, 17% of students experienced anxiety, and this rate remained unchanged by end of the session (P > 0.05). A total of 63.4% of students described having thoughts about life and death. After the session, 100% of students recommended the dissection exercise, giving it a mean score of 9.1/10 points. Anatomy is an important subject for students in the health sciences, and dissection and prosection exercises frequently involve a series of uncomfortable and stressful experiences. Experiences in the dissection room may challenge some students' emotional equilibria. However, students consider the exercise to be very useful in their education and recommend it. Anat Sci Educ 10: 487–494. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Forgetting about Friendship: Using Conflict in Teacher Communities as a Catalyst for School Change

It is widely recognized that teacher communities figure among the most vital factors for promoting educational change within schools. While there is widespread consensus on the idea of collegiality as an instrument for promoting and sustaining change, scholars are much less clear on the characteristics that teachers' professional communities within schools must possess in order to promote and sustain such change. This paper discusses the role of friendship and conflict in teacher communities and argues for a rethinking of the way the intermingling of professional and interpersonal ties in schools contributes to school change.     

The Nature of Science and Citizenship: a Delphi Analysis

Research in Science Education - The relationship between science and society has, for many years, been the subject of debate in different fields, and various proposals have been made regarding the...