Updating a Classic: “The Poisson Distribution and the Supreme Court” Revisited

W.A. Wallis studied vacancies in the US Supreme Court over a 96‐year period (1837–1932) and found that the distribution of the number of vacancies per year could be characterized by a Poisson model. This note updates this classic study.     

Challenging Colorblindness in Arizona: Latina/o Students’ Counter-Narratives of Race and Racism

This essay reviews Latina/o students' counter-narratives challenging colorblindness. The author highlights the experiences of students from Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program. By examining student counter-narratives, the author also identifies race-related terms that are more suitable for dialogue among and with young Latinas/os of the post-civil rights generation.     

An evaluation of daylight distribution as an initial preventive conservation measure at two Smithsonian Institution Museums, Washington DC, USA

This paper presents the results of a light levels survey conducted at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture in Washington DC. The museum space is shared by the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. After six years of extensive renovations, the building reopened to the public in July 1, 2006. The structure was not originally designed to house a museum collection since it contains numerous openings such as windows, doors and skylights, which provide a path for natural radiation to enter the building and come in contact with the artworks. From a preventive conservation standpoint, this is an important problem since sensitive works of art in the collection may be subjected to damage caused by light exposure. Environmental data loggers installed throughout the museum were programmed to take successive measurements every 10 min for 24 h a day, 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year. This light levels assessment started in November 1, 2007 and finished in October 31, 2008. This study presents a new method for determining natural radiation exposures registered in exhibition spaces that rely on both electric lighting and natural lighting, considering the growing trend of using daylight illumination in museums.     

Interoperability and Information Integration in an Early Online Academic Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations: The Case of BTD

Cooperative organization has been proposed as a means to improve the usefulness of virtual libraries. Information interchange among library and other academic applications is often hindered by the lack of application interoperability. This hindrance may be overcome through the development of standards that allow for digital libraries to exchange and share information with other applications. The Graduate Program in Production Engineering (PPGEP) of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) launched its Theses and Dissertations Bank (BTD) in 1995. BTD is possibly the first online academic digital library of theses. From a digital document repository, BTD evolved into a system that combines bibliometry and informetry features. BTD is used by students and faculty in their research activities, but also by decision makers from industry and academia. They use it, respectively, to search for specialists and to measure interest and knowledge interchange among PPGEP research areas. This article presents the history, features, and development prospects for the BTD project. The integration of BTD with other academic applications, especially those of the Brazilian national science and technology platform, is emphasized.     

Attachment,Acculturation, and Psychosomatic Complaints Among Hispanic American University Students

This study investigated adult attachment and acculturation frameworks of reported psychosomatic complaints related to perceived discrimination among a sample of Latino/Hispanic university students (N = 160). The model supported by the data suggests that attachment anxiety, acculturation toward the dominant cultural norms, and adherence to Latino/Hispanic cultural beliefs are important factors for perceived discrimination and psychosomatic complaints experienced by Latino/Hispanic students. Counseling implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Homework and academic achievement across Spanish Compulsory Education

Homework (HW) is one of the most common school-related activities among parents, students and teachers. However, the need to assign HW to students has been extensively debated. The present investigation examines the relationship between specific HW variables (i.e. amount of HW completed, time spent on HW and perceived quality of HW time management) and academic achievement, while controlling for students’ gender and grade level. Participants included 454 students (ranging from 10 to 16?years of age) from three schools in northern Spain. A multivariate analyses of variance and path analyses showed that the amount of HW completed decreased with increased schooling, as did students’ perceived quality of HW time management. Data from hierarchical regression analyses completed by path analyses provided evidence that time spent on HW conjointly with perceived quality of HW time management explains how academic achievement is mediated by the amount of HW completed. These findings deepen the understanding of the complex impact of time spent on HW and on academic achievement.     

Conquest or Reconquest? Students’ Conceptions of Nation Embedded in a Historical Narrative

This article focuses on university students’ understanding of the concept of nation. First an analysis of this concept from a historiographical point of view is presented. This allows for distinguishing between different conceptions of the nation related to 3 main approaches: the romantic, the modernist, and the ethnosymbolic approaches. Based on this analysis and also taking into account present research about history education and the construction of national identities, 5 different dimensions of the concept are presented: (a) historical subject, (b) identification, (c) territory, (d) legitimate claim, and (e) general concept scheme. Qualitative individual interviews were carried out with 31 Spanish college students about a Spanish foundational historical narrative, embedding the concept of nation, called the Reconquest (711 ad–1495 ad). Results indicated that although students showed tensions in their narratives, romantic conceptions dominated most of them. Possible reasons for the existence of these views are analyzed in terms of how the concept of nation is presented in and out of school. Also, implications for teaching and learning this concept are discussed, looking at learning strategies that could improve the understanding of this concept through its 5 analyzed dimensions.     

Crossed looks: globalisations and curriculum in Guinea-Bissau

This article focuses on education in Guinea-Bissau in the context of globalisations, examining the concept of globalisation and its relation to education and the curriculum. It focuses on the relatively neglected area of national education policies in Guinea-Bissau, comparing differences and common points of interference/influence of multilateral (international and regional) and bilateral organisations in these policies. Data collection was based on content analysis of a corpus of documents – the Education Act, the document of Portuguese Cooperation Programme, the Education Sector Policy Paper, the Education for All National Plan of Action, and Policy n. 3/2007/CM/UEMOA – and field notes collected from 2009 to 2012. The article argues that there is a tendency for the homogenisation of curriculum policies, at least at the macro-level, due to the different types of pressures coming from international/regional organisations.     

Implicit sequence learning is preserved in dyslexic children

This study investigates the implicit sequence learning abilities of dyslexic children using an artificial grammar learning task with an extended exposure period. Twenty children with developmental dyslexia participated in the study and were matched with two control groups—one matched for age and other for reading skills. During 3 days, all participants performed an acquisition task, where they were exposed to colored geometrical forms sequences with an underlying grammatical structure. On the last day, after the acquisition task, participants were tested in a grammaticality classification task. Implicit sequence learning was present in dyslexic children, as well as in both control groups, and no differences between groups were observed. These results suggest that implicit learning deficits per se cannot explain the characteristic reading difficulties of the dyslexics.