Creating a Binary Policy in Austria

In 1993, the Government of Austria passed legislation establishing a 'binary policy' in higher education. A new accrediting body the Fachhochschulrat was created, empowered to accredit vocationally oriented courses in any institution seeking to offer them. Institutions meeting certain conditions will be entitled to seek designation as Fachhochschulen. The policy marks an important departure from the traditionally highly regulated and centralized system of policymaking in Austria. The article offers an analysis of the factors leading to the policy and analyses the implications for the future. It draws on the author's experience as a member of a team of examiners from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) undertaking a policy review of Austrian higher education, and points to lessons for Austria from the United Kingdom's experience over the last 25 years.     

Publisher and author partnerships: a changing landscape

This article discusses the changing relationships of authors and publishers, the current trends and challenges they face, and the direction of these relationships in the future. As the STM publishing industry finds itself in the midst of significant technological and economic changes, this article provides background to these changes and looks at the key elements, including open access business development, institutional repository trends, and emerging public financing policies in the future.     

Sport as a Valued Human Practice: a basis for the consideration of some moral issues in sport

ABSTRACT It is argued that sport, like science or medicine, is a valued human practice and is characterised as much by the moral manner in which its participants conduct themselves as by the pursuit of its own skills, standards and excellences. Virtues, such as justice, honesty and courage, are not only necessary to pursue its goals but to protect it from being corrupted by external interests. After explicating the practice view of sport in contrast to the sociological view, the nature of competition in sport is discussed before examining two related issues: winning at all costs and the taking of performance-enhancing drugs. The importance of practices to education and the good life is also outlined.     

Meta-analysis: a tool for medical and scientific discoveries.

Medicine has made increasing use of meta-analysis, largely as a quantitative procedure for combining results of clinical trials. Meta-analysis begins with a comprehensive review of the literature. The next step is a systematic analysis of the quality and content of each study. Finally, results are combined statistically and conclusions are drawn from this new overview of the data. This paper presents a brief historical perspective on the use of meta-analysis in medicine with emphasis on the medical library. The authors conclude that in the future, medical librarians will play a significant role in the application of this useful technique.     

Pre-season physiological characteristics of English first and second division soccer players.

This investigation was undertaken in an effort to establish physiological characteristics of soccer players and to relate them to positional roles. A total of 135 footballers (age 24.4 +/- 4.6 years) were assessed for body mass, % body fat, haemoglobin, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), leg power, anaerobic capacity and speed prior to an English league season. The sample included 13 goalkeepers, 22 full-backs, 24 centre-backs, 35 midfield players and 41 forwards. The goalkeepers were significantly heavier (86.1 +/- 5.5 kg; P < 0.01) than all groups except the centre-backs, had significantly higher estimated body fat percentages than centre-backs, forwards, midfield players (P < 0.01) or full-backs (P < 0.05), significantly lower estimated VO2 max values (56.4 +/- 3.9 ml kg-1 min-1; P < 0.01) and were slowest over 60 m (12.71 +/- 0.42 s). The midfield players had the highest predicted VO2 max values (61.4 +/- 3.4 ml kg-1 min-1), this being significantly greater (P < 0.05) than for the centre-backs. The forwards were the fastest group over 60 m (12.19 +/- 0.30 s), being significantly quicker than goalkeepers or centre-backs (P < 0.01) and full-backs (P < 0.05). Anaerobic power, as well as knee extensor torques (corrected for body mass) and extensor-flexor ratios, were similar between groups. No difference in estimated body fat percentage was observed between any of the outfield players, and haemoglobin concentrations were similar among players of all positions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)