HERIe: A Web-Based Decision-Supporting Tool for Assessing Risk of Physical Damage Using Various Failure Criteria

ABSTRACT

HERIe is a web-based decision-supporting software tool to facilitate the management of collection environments by precise assessment of climate-induced risk of physical damage to vulnerable objects. The software translates the relative humidity and temperature data recorded in the environment of the analysed object into a strain history experienced by it, and estimates the risk of physical damage using selected failure criteria. As all information is pre-calculated for the user, no engagement in complex and time-consuming numerical simulations is required. HERIe is available for testing at herie.mnk.pl. Detailed information on the methodologies used by the software is available at the above website which also contains tutorial climates. The current work aims at refining HERIe by selecting the damage criteria not only from laboratory studies but also from direct monitoring damage accumulation in objects, especially using the acoustic emission method. The software has been expanded to include moisture-induced response of parchment to support managing environments in libraries and archives.     

Nothing but the Facts?

This paper seeks to understand how journalists deal with storytelling and truth-seeking in their daily news practice. While storytelling is usually studied through texts, we approached it from a practice perspective, combining data from three ethnographic studies in which 36 beat reporters and 13 journalistic storytelling experts were extensively interviewed. Because of the emphasis journalists place on “finding out the truth” in public discourses, it is tempting for academics to present them as naive truth-seekers. However, by means of an interpretative repertoire analysis of their “practice” discourses, we seek to enlarge the discursive space to talk about the supposed tension between story and reality. Although departing from the idea that all news making is storytelling, the interviewed journalists consider news making and storytelling as distinct—and sometimes opposing—practices. These professional practices serve as the framework around which five storytelling repertoires are organized.     

Leben am Rande? Dimensionen der Benachteilung von Jugendlichen

?konomisches, soziales und kulturelles Kapital z?hlen zu den zentralen Determinanten des übergangs von Jugendlichen in die Ausbildung und in den Beruf. Allerdings zeichnen sich diese Faktoren durch eine relativ hohe interpersonelle Variabilit?t aus, die gerade in Bezug auf benachteiligte junge Erwachsene einer differenzierten Analyse bedarf. Der folgende Beitrag m?chte deshalb zun?chst in Anlehnung an die Kapitalientheorie von Pierre Bourdieu die Frage untersuchen, ob es innerhalb der Gruppe von benachteiligten Jugendlichen Unterschiede in der Kapitalausstattung gibt, und ob diese eine Wirkung auf den Verbleib in und den Anschluss an eine Ma?nahme haben. Anhand eines Datensatzes, der im Rahmen der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung des Modellprogramms „Freiwilliges soziales Trainingsjahr“ (FSTJ) durch das Deutsche Jugendinstitut generiert wurde, werden theoretische Annahmen zu unterschiedlicher Kapitalausstattung benachteiligter Jugendlicher im FSTJ und ihre Wirkungen empirisch überprüft.     

Educational reform and the public: Two case studies of Poland and Saskatchewan (Canada)

The involvement of the public in educational reform processes in modern democratic societies primarily serves the purpose of politically legitimizing the reform agenda. This study examines the rationales implicitly or explicitly submitted to the public to explain why educational reforms in the two countries should be endorsed. Although differences in the political culture caution against a hasty comparison of the two case studies, a number of politico-economic similarities allow for a valid juxtaposition. In Poland the context of socio-political and economic renewal prompted the reformers to emphasize the human-capital model which heightened public awareness and participation in the debate surrounding the reform. Public involvement in Saskatchewan was negatively affected for mainly two reasons. First, the government evidently manipulated public input by various means and thereby appears to have predetermined the outcome. Second, the rationale for the reform, based on a free-market model, tightened the linkage between the needs of the labour market and the mandate of the schools. As a result, public interest and participation was greatly diminished.

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Zusammenfassung Die Beteiligung der Öffentlichkeit an Reformen auf dem Gebiet der Erziehung in den modernen demokratischen Gesellschaften dient hauptsächlich der politischen Legitimierung der Reformpläne. In dieser Studie werden die der Bevölkerung offen oder unterschwellig vermittelten Gründe untersucht, warum den erzieherischen Reformen in beiden Ländern zugestimmt werden sollte. Obwohl die Unterschiede in der politischen Kultur Anlaß zur Vorsicht vor einem voreiligen Vergleich der beiden Fallstudien geben, so sprechen einige wirtschaftspolitische Ähnlichkeiten für eine sinnvolle Nebeneinanderstellung. In Polen führte der Zusammenhang sozialpolitischer und wirtschaftlicher Erneuerung dazu, daß die Reformer das Modell des menschlichen Kapitals, das das öffentliche Bewußtsein und die Teilnahme an der Debatte über die Reformen verstärkte, besonders betonten. Die öffentliche Beteiligung in Saskatchewan bekam aus zwei Gründen einen negativen Beigeschmack. Erstens manipulierte die Regierung offensichtlich in verschiedener Hinsicht die Beiträge der Öffentlichkeit, und sie scheint damit das Ergebnis vorbestimmt zu haben. Zweitens stärkten die Gründe für die auf ein Modell der freien Marktwirtschaft gegründeten Reformen die Verbindungen zwischen dem Bedarf des Arbeitsmarktes und dem Mandat der Schulen. Als Folge davon reduzierte sich das öffentliche Interesse und die Beteiligung erheblich.

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Résumé La participation du public aux processus de réforme éducative dans les sociétés démocratiques modernes sert essentiellement à légitimation politique du calendrier de réforme. Cette étude examine la raison d'être soumise implicitement ou explicitement au public et analyse pourquoi les réformes éducatives doivent être adoptées dans les deux pays. Bien que les divergences de cultures politiques mettent en garde contre une comparaison hâtive des deux études de cas, certaines correspondances politico-économiques permettent une juxtaposition valide. En Pologne, le contexte de la rénovation socio-politique et économique a pressé les réformateurs à mettre en valeur le modèle de capital humain qui a rehaussé l'information et la participation du public dans le débat autour de la réforme. La participation du public dans le Saskatchewan a été entravée pour deux raisons. Premièrement, il semblerait que le gouvernement ait manipulé les investissements publics de différentes manières et qu'il ait par cela prédéterminé le résultat obtenu. Deuxièmement, la légitimité de la réforme, orientée vers un modèle de marché libre, a renforcé les liens entre les besoins du marché de l'emploi et le mandat des écoles. Par conséquent, l'intérêt et la participation du public ont été considérablement affaiblis.

     

Inequalities in the education system and the reproduction of socioeconomic disparities in voting in England,Denmark and Germany: the influence of country context,tracking and self-efficacy on voting intentions of students age 16–18

This article performs exploratory research using a mixed-methods approach (structural equation modelling and a thematic analysis of interview data) to analyse the ways in which socioeconomic disparities in voting patterns are reproduced through inequalities in education in different national contexts, and the role of self-efficacy in this process. The evidence suggests that in Germany and England students with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have lower levels of general self-efficacy, and that this is reinforced through early experiences of inequalities in the education system, such as within- or between-school selection. Low levels of general self-efficacy are then found to reduce political self-efficacy and voting intentions. In Germany and England, it is these students who enter initial vocational education and training (IVET). The experience of IVET then reinforces the distinctions in civic engagement, probably either through peer socialisation and/or curriculum differences. In Denmark, where SES has a weaker association with track placement, the experience of being placed in IVET plays a stronger role in reducing political self-efficacy and voting intentions.     

Multimedia and interactivity in distance learning of resuscitation guidelines: a randomised controlled trial

The aim of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of three forms of knowledge transfer online, taking into account the long-term knowledge growth rate and the satisfaction of students surveyed in respect to distance learning. The cohort of participants for this survey were students of the first degree, studying in the Emergency Medical Services. The authors created three e-learning courses in basic and advanced resuscitation procedures. The level of course participants’ satisfaction was analysed, as well as the knowledge growth rate measured three times: 7, 30 and 90 days, respectively, after finishing the course. The level of satisfaction in all the groups surveyed was comparable. The growth rate for knowledge was the highest in group C in the second and third survey, respectively (30 and 90 days after the end of the course), and a significant difference in favour of course C was demonstrated one month after finishing classes.