Embracing Death: Mexican Parent and Child Perspectives on Death

A mixed-method approach was used to explore parent and child perspectives on death in Mexico. Parents’ and children’s death-related experiences and understanding of death were examined. While all children in this sample displayed a biological understanding of death, older children were less likely to endorse that all living things die. Children also displayed coexistence of beliefs related to death that can be attributed to both their biological and spiritual understanding of death. We also found that older children were more likely to report that a child should feel sad following the death of a loved one. These findings highlight how cultural practices shape the development of cognitive and affective processes related to death.     

Towards a more equitable and inclusive learning environment in Sport Education: results of an action research-based intervention

This study was designed to examine and intervene into student behaviours to promote a democratic, inclusive and participatory focus within Sport Education. To achieve an increased understanding of and changes within student behaviours, a collaborative participatory action research methodology was applied to provide voice to students as agents of change. The research progressed throughout an entire school year and was cast in two stages. The first was a season of Basketball that provided some baseline with respect to issues of equity and inclusion. This was followed by an intervention stage (seasons of Handball, Soccer and Volleyball) in which the identified issues were acted upon. Based upon issues unearthed during the action research cycles the intervention focused on legitimating different levels of participation through (1) a reconfiguration of the learning content, peer teaching activities and competition formats, (2) the discussion of inequity, exclusion, gender stereotyping and discrimination emerging from group dynamics within focus groups interviews and (3) the promotion of positive leadership behaviours of the student coaches through leadership seminars conducted outside the gym. By the end of the year, there was significant evidence of inclusive membership accompanied by the development of mutual trust among students and shared contributions towards a common and inclusive goal. A close interrelatedness was found between game competence development, trajectories of participation and sense of membership, the restructuring of power relations and the sharing of knowledge and investment of dominant and higher-skilled students towards more inclusive team goals. The Sport Education curriculum alone was insufficient to dismantle the deeply rooted negative cultural influences of community-based sports that influenced equity and inclusion. However, by planning and implementing a specific intervention that used the educational resources of Sport Education proactively it was possible to promote a more inclusive and equitable learning environment.     

Colorimetric Evaluation of Pictorial Coatings in Conservation of Plasterworks from the Islamic Tradition

ABSTRACT

The main aim of our current investigation is the colorimetric evaluation of protective treatments (consolidants) applied to traditional Islamic plasterworks, under natural ageing conditions. From analyses of the original pictorial plaster remains in the Courtyard of the Maidens of the Real Alcázar in Seville, Spain (a World Heritage Site) we prepared test specimens, using materials and techniques similar to the original ones. We analysed 56 test specimens painted with four pigments (yellow, green, blue, and red), using two different binders (animal glue and gum arabic), onto which five representative consolidants were applied: barium hydroxide, acrylic copolymer, polyvinyl butyral, ethyl silicate, and bacterial carbonatogenesis. The test specimens were subjected to natural ageing for one year (indoors and outdoors), enabling a colorimetric assessment to be made of the changes of the polychrome surfaces. The colorimetric heterogeneity of the 56 specimens after ageing registered an average value of 2.7 CIELAB units, assessed using the mean colour difference with respect to the mean. In the aged specimens, the addition of consolidants resulted in average colour differences (mainly lightness differences) of 10.7 and 6.7 CIELAB units, considering as a reference the specimens without consolidants aged indoors and outdoors, respectively. These colour differences were very similar for both binders but not for the four pigments, higher values being found for the blue and red pigments. Considering as reference the samples without consolidants aged outdoors, we found no statistically significant colour differences, either among the five consolidants (p?=?.094) nor the two binders (p?=?.674) used. In addition to the magnitude of colour differences, the choice of the most appropriate consolidants must also consider aspects related to performance and effectiveness. Overall, for the type of paints tested, the polyvinyl butyral consolidant appeared to perform the best, followed by the ethyl silicate.     

Analysing knowledge transfer channels between universities and industry: To what degree do sectors also matter?

There is a wide variety of channels through which knowledge and technology is being transferred between universities and industry. This paper aims to explain the relative importance of these different channels in different contexts. For this purpose, responses from two questionnaires were analysed, addressing Dutch industrial and university researchers, respectively. A reassuring result is that the perceived importance of the 23 distinct transfer channels we distinguished hardly differs between industry and university: we did not observe a major mismatch. Overall, our results suggest that the industrial activities of firms do not significantly explain differences in importance of a wide variety of channels through which knowledge between university and industry might be transferred. Instead, this variety is better explained by the disciplinary origin, the characteristics of the underlying knowledge, the characteristics of researchers involved in producing and using this knowledge (individual characteristics), and the environment in which knowledge is produced and used (institutional characteristics). Based on our findings, we offer policy recommendations.     

Research-based education as a model to change the teaching and learning environment in STEM disciplines

This paper discusses the benefits and threats of promoting and reinforcing a research-based education environment to STEM undergraduate students. The paper explores the rationale for research-based education as a pedagogical driven approach, where undergraduate students learn through enquiry and discovery. Research evidence of a STEM case study conducted in an English university is then presented, which sheds light on how this institution and STEM research-active academics are fostering students’ learning in a research-based education environment, the constraints they face, and the pedagogical solutions they propose to empower students’ learning. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations aimed to raise the research-based education environment of STEM Faculties or Departments.     

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.     

How speechreading contributes to reading in a transparent ortography: the case of Spanish deaf people

The aim of the study is to describe the performance of deaf and hearing people while speechreading Spanish, a language with transparent orthography, and to relate this skill to reading efficiency. Three groups of 27 participants each were recruited: a group of deaf participants, a chronological age‐matched hearing group and a reading age‐matched hearing group. All three were tested on vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading speed, speechreading and, only in the group of deaf people, speech intelligibility. The results indicate that deaf people are better speechreaders than younger hearing people, but they are no better than their age‐matched peers, and that speechreading is related to reading only in deaf people.     

Looked After Children: Non‐local authority placements and meeting educational needs

Research consistently reports an educational disadvantage of being looked after. There is a lack of literature pertaining specifically to young people who are placed out of their local authority. The following research reports on an investigation of educational psychologists’ views on the educational implications of non‐local authority residential placements for 12 young people. The findings show that non‐local authority residential placements were usually precipitated by care crises and tended to have a negative impact on the extent to which educational needs were met. One non‐local authority residential placement which allowed continuation of the local authority educational placement had positive educational implications. Action implications for local authorities and educational psychology services are given regarding casework, working with other agencies, local commissioning of establishments and areas for further research.