The construction of a transnational Lusophone media space: A historiographic analysis

This piece examines the historical construction of a Lusophone cultural-linguistic media space and market that spans portions of Europe, Africa, and South America. Beginning with the Portuguese colonization of Brazil and Lusophone Africa in the 17th century and continuing to the contemporary moment, our discussion examines how a combination of political, ideological, and economic patterns created linkages between Portugal, Brazil, and Portuguese-speaking colonies in Africa (namely Angola, Cape Verde, and Mozambique). After examining how Brazil grew to become the dominant cultural producer in this transnational matrix (most explicitly expressed through the massive exports of telenovelas and music since the late 1970s), we examine how other countries are beginning to carve out distinctive national niches, including the contemporary music scene in Cape Verde and the rise of domestically produced telenovelas in Portugal and Angola that are increasing in circulation in the contemporary transnational Lusophone media space.     

A Multi Proxy Investigation of Moisture,Salt, and Weathering Dynamics on a Historic Urban Boundary Wall in Oxford,UK

ABSTRACT

Boundary walls are neglected but important parts of historic urban environments, and they are often prone to serious deterioration. Understanding moisture and salt dynamics within boundary walls can help infer the causes and dynamics of deterioration. This investigation investigates the patterns of moisture, salt, and deterioration on a 300 year old limestone boundary wall in Worcester College, Oxford. Multiple methods to assess moisture and salts within and across the wall (electrical resistivity tomography, handheld resistivity-based moisture meter, paper pulp poultices, scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, and ion chromatography of small scale sampling of deteriorated limestone) were used in conjunction with decay mapping of both sides of the wall. The salt weathering strongly correlates with severely weathered zones at the wall and salts, mainly sulfates, seem to be the main agent of decay processes. The combined results demonstrate that the environmental influences driving stone decay can differ on a very small scale even at a comparatively simple structure like a boundary wall, and that repairs can have adverse effects if the patterns of salt and moisture dynamics are not sufficiently known.     

Museum without walls： Imagining new formative spaces

The ＂Museum of Childhood＂ is a project connected to the Post-Graduate Program in Education at Unesc （Brazil） and since 2005 has been developing interfaces with research, teaching and extension. In this paper, the authors would like to show how the museological conception of the Museum of Childhood makes imagination from one of the central axis of its formative relation with the public. Such conception breaks with the traditional view of museums as buildings where old things are collected and preserved. In fact, the Museum of Childhood, in the light of its objective conditions, wants to be a museum without walls, a museum that, using the device of spatial demarcation, spreads itself in the university campus and other public places, with the objective of communicating with the people. This conception comes closer to the transgressive nature of modem arts, which desacralizes the work of art as masterpiece and proposed, for example, the fugacity of installations and aesthetic interventions. This conception takes the Benjaminian notion of the past as the dimension where other futures remain latent, that is, the museum is seen not as a guardian of the past, but as an establishment that wants to use its collections to communicate with the public. The overrunning of the static physical space, for example, forces the public to recreate its horizon of expectations concerning what a museum show be. In order to accomplish its original objectives, the Museum of Childhood works intensively on the formation of the public by proposing monitored visits in which creative activities are developed and by improving its homepage.     

Influencing Work-Related Learning: The Role of Job Characteristics and Self-Directed Learning Orientation in Part-Time Vocational Education

Based on the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) model, the present paper aims to investigate the influence of job characteristics such as job demands, job control, social support at work and self-directed learning orientation on the work-related learning behaviour of workers. The present study was conducted in a centre for part-time vocational education in Flanders (Belgium). The students in the centre work for 3 days a week and attend school during the other two days. A questionnaire using scales adapted from validated instruments was used. Students were asked to complete the questionnaire with the job in mind they were doing at present. A total of 115 students from different sectors completed the questionnaire. It was assumed that high scores for self-directed learning orientation and high scores for the job characteristics job demands, job control and social support would be associated with more work-related learning behaviour. All scales had acceptable Cronbach alpha values. The results of the linear regression analyses indicated that only the self-directed learning orientation scale predicted the work-related learning behaviour to a significant extent.     

Spheroid-on-chip microfluidic technology for the evaluation of the impact of continuous flow on metastatic potential in cancer models in vitro

The majority of cancer deaths are linked to tumor spread, or metastasis, but 3D in vitro metastasis models relevant to the tumor microenvironment (including interstitial fluid flow) remain an area of unmet need. Microfluidics allows us to introduce controlled flow to an in vitro cancer model to better understand the relationship between flow and metastasis. Here, we report new hybrid spheroid-on-chip in vitro models for the impact of interstitial fluid flow on cancer spread. We designed a series of reusable glass microfluidic devices to contain one spheroid in a microwell under continuous perfusion culture. Spheroids derived from established cancer cell lines were perfused with complete media at a flow rate relevant to tumor interstitial fluid flow. Spheroid viability and migratory/invasive capabilities were maintained on-chip when compared to off-chip static conditions. Importantly, using flow conditions modeled in vitro, we are the first to report flow-induced secretion of pro-metastatic factors, in this case cytokines vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin 6. In summary, we have developed a new, streamlined spheroid-on-chip in vitro model that represents a feasible in vitro alternative to conventional murine in vivo metastasis assays, including complex tumor environmental factors, such as interstitial fluid flow, extracellular matrices, and using 3D models to model nutrient and oxygen gradients. Our device, therefore, constitutes a robust alternative to in vivo early-metastasis models for determination of novel metastasis biomarkers as well as evaluation of therapeutically relevant molecular targets not possible in in vivo murine models.     

Openness to international markets and the diffusion of standards compliance in Latin America. A multi level analysis

This study contributes to the debate on the role of openness to international markets for the diffusion of compliance with international standards in developing countries. Relying upon aggregated data for 1995-2005, as well as upon firm-level and secondary data from the Chilean salmon farming industry, the determinants of ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 diffusion at country, industry, and firm level, in Latin American are analysed. Our evidence suggests that openness to international markets acts at different levels. At both the country and industry level, it creates awareness and access to new knowledge therefore providing economic incentives or penalisations for evaluating certification. This effect competes and complements the deliberated efforts and policies in explaining diffusion of certification. At firm level, however, openness to international markets alone does not provide sufficient opportunities to acquire the knowledge required to comply with these standards. In this case, standards’ compliance depends on firm's capability to use relational and search assets, as well as on national and industrial efforts and policies to spread standards’ usage.     

The relative roles of IQ and cognitive processes in reading disability

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relative roles of IQ and cognitive processes in reading performance. A sample of 443 Spanish children (264 male, 179 female) ranging in age from 7 to 13 years were classified into four groups according to IQ scores (<80, 80–90, 90–110, >110) and reading disabled (RD) and normally achieving readers (NR) were compared. The findings indicate that IQ scores were not related to the differences between children with RD and NR. We found that reading‐related cognitive deficits do differentiate between RD and NR children. Therefore, IQ scores do not make a significant contribution to our understanding of reading disability.     

Teacher education graduates’ entrance into the teaching profession: Development and test of a model

This study aims to advance insight into the relationship between teacher education and graduates’ intended and actual entrance into the teaching profession. Moreover, it indicates how this relationship varies between teacher training for primary education (i.e., programs for class teachers-to-be) and teacher training for secondary education (i.e., programs for subject teachers-to-be). A hypothetical model of graduates’ entrance into the teaching profession comprising empirically grounded variables was developed. Besides teacher education related variables, other factors (e.g., motivation and labour market) were included. Data for this study were collected based on a sample of 301 teacher education graduates. Logistic regression analysis shows that intention to enter teaching is a valid predictor of actual entrance. Path analysis was applied to test the hypothetical pattern of (inter)relationships between the variables. For graduates from teacher training for pre-school and primary education, the path model accounts for 33% of the variance in intention to enter teaching. For teacher training for secondary education the explained amount of variance is 44%. Results are largely consistent across the two types of teacher training showing a small, although statistically significant, contribution of teacher education above other antecedents of graduates’ intention to enter teaching.