Organizational cultures of higher education institutions operating amid turbulence and an unstable environment: the Lebanese case

Higher Education - This paper seeks to categorize and analyze the organizational culture and organizational culture components – leadership style, decision-making modes, standards of...     

Reviews

Books reviewed
Paul R. Trowler, ed. (2002) Higher Education Policy and Institutional Change: Intentions and Outcomes in Turbulent Environments. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press. 166 pp; ISBN 0-335209-19-X (hb).
Peter T. Knight (2002) Being a Teacher in Higher Education. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press. 245 pp; ISBN 0-335-20930-0 (pb.) £18.99.     

电泳沉积固体氧化物燃料电池关键参数研究综述（英文）

目的:电泳沉积是一种简单且具有成本效益的涂层技术。其出色的形态特征控制,适用于制造需要每个组件层都具有其独特属性的固体氧化物燃料电池。本文旨在综述电泳沉积的最新进展、制备稳定悬浮液所需的关键因素以及通过电泳沉积技术制造固体氧化物燃料电池所涉及的相关参数。创新点:1.分析了维持悬浮液稳定性的关键参数,包括粒径和固体载荷等胶体相关参数以及介电常数和电导率等悬浮介质相关参数。2.讨论了这些参数对粒子流动性、电动电位和电泳沉积技术于固体氧化物燃料电池应用的综合效应。方法:1.对以往的研究进行综述,并总结电泳沉积技术制造固体氧化物燃料电池组件层的发展(表1),包括稳定悬浮液的制备以及电泳沉积工艺关键参数的优化。结论:鉴于每个固体氧化物燃料电池组件层都涉及不同类型的材料,且每种材料都需要特定的参数来实现有效沉积,因此,为了获得各组件层所需要的性能,制备悬浮液配方的正确性和电泳沉积工艺的优化显得至关重要。     

Inertia and scaling in deterministic lateral displacement

The ability to separate and analyze chemical species with high resolution, sensitivity, and throughput is central to the development of microfluidics systems. Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) is a continuous separation method based on the transport of species through an array of obstacles. In the case of force-driven DLD (f-DLD), size-based separation can be modelled effectively using a simple particle-obstacle collision model. We use a macroscopic model to study f-DLD and demonstrate, via a simple scaling, that the method is indeed predominantly a size-based phenomenon at low Reynolds numbers. More importantly, we demonstrate that inertia effects provide the additional capability to separate same size particles but of different densities and could enhance separation at high throughput conditions. We also show that a direct conversion of macroscopic results to microfluidic settings is possible with a simple scaling based on the size of the obstacles that results in a universal curve.     

Reducing the Academic Risks of Over-Optimism: The Longitudinal Effects of Attributional Retraining on Cognition and Achievement

Although optimism is generally regarded as a positive dispositional characteristic, unmitigated optimism can be problematic. The adaptiveness of overly optimistic expectations in novel or unfamiliar settings is questionable because individuals have little relevant experience on which to base such expectations. In this four-phase longitudinal study we examined over-optimism in students when making the transition from a familiar academic setting (high school) to a novel academic setting (college). In particular, we focused on the efficacy of attributional retraining (AR), a control-enhancing intervention, to ameliorate the scholastic transition of overly optimistic students in terms of academic-related causal attributions and control perceptions, course grades, and overall GPAs. Results suggest that overly optimistic college students who did not receive the AR intervention increasingly endorsed maladaptive causal explanations for academic performance, and performed at the same level as students with extremely low optimism. Conversely, as expected, over-optimists who received the AR intervention significantly increased in their use of adaptive causal explanations and perceptions of control, in addition to academically outperforming the no-AR/over-optimists. These findings indicate that the potential risks associated with over-optimism may be reduced by pairing optimism with AR to induce adaptive cognitions, thereby facilitating achievement.     

Should I stay or should I switch? An analysis of transitions between modes of vocational education and training

How established is the horizontal permeability between modes of vocational education and training (VET) in Switzerland? Formally encouraged by the Swiss law on VET, horizontal permeability refers to transitions across VET modes, i.e. between dual and school-based VET. This paper first discusses why horizontal permeability is indeed relevant and then empirically examines the horizontal permeability of the Swiss VET system for a given occupation – commercial VET. The latter is the largest VET domain in Switzerland and, importantly, a domain in which school-based VET is well established. The empirical analysis uses panel data following a cohort for over 10 years in the Canton of Geneva. Results show that going from school-based to dual VET within commercial VET increases chances to earn a qualification, however students changing modes lose half a year in the process. These findings suggest that, at least in commercial VET, horizontal permeability is only partial.     

LibX: The Small but Mighty Button for E-Resource Discovery and Access

LibX is an open-source browser extension that pushes access to a library’s e-resources and services out to users wherever they are on the Internet (e.g., Amazon, Wikipedia). In Fall 2012, University of Connecticut (UConn) Libraries unveiled their instance of LibX along with homegrown user guides and instructional materials, as well as targeted marketing and promotion efforts. In this session, the presenters described the successes and challenges of UConn’s LibX implementation and promotion, as well as an analysis of LibX.     

Three- to four-year-olds' recognition that symbols have a stable meaning: pictures are understood before written words

In 4 experiments 120 three- to four-year-old nonreaders were asked the identity of a symbolic representation as it appeared with different objects. Consistent with Bialystok (2000), many children judged the identity of written words to vary according to the object with which they appeared but few made such errors with recognizable pictures. Children also made few errors when the symbols were unrecognizable pictures. In Experiments 2 to 4 this pattern of responses was preserved in conditions that made it unlikely or impossible for children to answer correctly by taking the symbol to refer to one of the objects with which it appeared. Instead, correct answers required children to appreciate that the symbol had a generic, abstract meaning.     

A three-phase examination of academic comparative optimism and perceived academic control

Early academic perceptions are critical to undergraduate students' success in college. This 3-phase study examined stability of and links between academic comparative optimism (ACO; positive expectations about future performance) and perceived academic control (PAC; sense of influence over academic outcomes) among 68 undergraduate students. ACO and PAC were assessed at the start, midway through, and at the end of a semester and a cross-lagged panel analysis tested which academic perception better predicted the other. We also examined early ACO and PAC as predictors of later achievement. Students' ACO and PAC were fairly stable throughout the semester. Regression analyses (controlling for course load, prior achievement, and prior ACO or PAC) indicated ACO predicted PAC more so than the reverse, suggesting students may boost their PAC via optimistic social comparisons. Early ACO predicted later performance. Implications for enhancing ACO and PAC early in the academic year are discussed.