Hannah Arendt and Norwegian Muslim children’s schooling: in pursuit of democratic practices

The aim of this paper is to consider whether Hannah Arendt’s (1996) [Arendt, H. (1958/1998 Arendt, H. (1958/1998). Vita Activa. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago. [Google Scholar]). Vita Activa. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago] concept of ‘public space’ is a potentially useful and creative way of thinking about aspects of Muslim children’s experiences within the context of education. Following a terror attack in 2011, when 77 people were killed, the then Norwegian prime minister stated that ‘our answer to this violence is more openness and more democracy but not naivety’. Accordingly, this paper draws on data so as to put concepts drawn from Arendt to work. In so doing, we indicate possibilities for ‘more openness and more democracy’ where Norwegian children can have Islam as an important element within their lives in ways that avoid the charge of naivety.     

What do students gain from games? Dice games vs word problems

Learning the fundamentals of probability and random variables can be a struggle for many students. Games by their nature require active participation and reward mastery, lending naturally to the framework of active learning. In this study, we designed and evaluated the efficacy of a lab activity using a game where strategy hinges on sums of dice to teach about linear combinations of independent random variables. We found that both activities lead to improved understandings of course concepts, but the dice game provided increased student engagement and interest.     

User Democracy in Schools? Comparing Norwegian Schools With Nursing Homes

Democratic user control is a hallmark of Scandinavian schools, but also of other services of the Scandinavian welfare states. This article studies variations in parental control and influences in public and non-public schools. In addition, how the use of different governance tools inspired by markets affects user control is analyzed. The empirical investigation consists of matching public and non-public schools and nursing homes in three Norwegian municipalities. The study concludes that there is important variation between public and non-public schools, while there is little variation between public and non-public nursing homes. The organization of the quasi-market is an important explanation for this.     

Boycott,Exclusion or Non-participation? Hungary in the Years of the 1920 and 1984 Olympic Games

Sport is a double-edged sword: it has the potential to bring nations together but it can also demonstrate and exacerbate the political tensions and conflicts of the world. Sporting events, especially the Olympic Games, can increase understanding, celebrate commonalities, facilitate cooperation and bridge differences but they can also provide a stage for political rivalries and struggles. This article critically compares the backgrounds of Hungary's non-participation in the 1920 Antwerp and the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games, given the label ‘boycott’ by the international community.

The unique international political circumstances and Hungary's dependent position restricted the role, strength and efficacy of the contemporary Hungarian sport diplomacy to decide freely. The research implicitly describes the objectives and targets of the actual international alignments, the policy of the Hungarian regime and the processes which resulted in the involuntary non-participation.     

Parallel assessment of nutrition and activity in athletes: Validation against doubly labelled water, 24-h urea excretion,and indirect calorimetry

Abstract

The assessment of nutrition and activity in athletes requires accurate and precise methods. The aim of this study was to validate a protocol for parallel assessment of diet and exercise against doubly labelled water, 24-h urea excretion, and respiratory gas exchange. The participants were 14 male triathletes under normal training conditions. Energy intake and doubly labelled water were weakly associated with each other (r = 0.69, standard error of estimate [SEE] = 304 kcal · day^?1). Protein intake was strongly correlated with 24-h urea (r = 0.89) but showed considerable individual variation (SEE = 0.34 g · kg^?1 · day^?1). Total energy expenditure based on recorded activities was highly correlated with doubly labelled water (r = 0.95, SEE = 195 kcal · day^?1) but was proportionally biased. During running and cycling, estimated exercise energy expenditure was highly correlated with gas exchange (running: r = 0.89, SEE = 1.6 kcal · min^?1; cycling: r = 0.95, SEE = 1.4 kcal · min^?1). High exercise energy expenditure was slightly underestimated during running. For nutrition data, variations appear too large for precise measurements in individual athletes, which is a common problem of dietary assessment methods. Despite the high correlations of total energy expenditure and exercise energy expenditure with reference methods, a correction for systematic errors is necessary for the valid estimation of energetic requirements in individual athletes.     

Application of functional derivatives to analysis of complex systems

The application of the functional derivatives to the mathematical modeling of complex systems is studied here. The connection of functional derivatives with total differentials in Banach spaces is shown. Local and global existence theorems for the linear equations in total differentials are proved. Consequently, a total integrability conditions are derived for the case of linear equations with the functional derivatives. Some illustrative examples are included.     

Girls and Information Technology in Denmark—an account of a socially constructed problem

The author offers an interpretation of why we resist associating the female sex with competence on the computer, and conversely, why the male sex is not regarded as a problem in terms of learning to deal competently with the computer. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between gender and computers.     

Citizenship education and the reparation of future teachers : A study

This study examines the views of future teachers of social studies regarding significant global trends, required citizen characteristics, and necessary educational strategies to develop the said characteristics. The study builds upon the landmark work of the nine-nation Citizenship Education Policy Study (CEPS I) carried out in the late 1990s that resulted in the model calledmultidimensional citizenship. The original work focused on the views of policy makers and scholars. The present research, CEPS II, is a follow-up study that seeks to determine the views of the next generation of those who will teach citizenship and civic education through social studies programs in seven participant societies: China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States of America. The results suggest that the future teachers, when compared with the policy experts and scholars in the original CEPS I study, are more optimistic about the future and are more oriented towards personal development and participatory behaviors that will positively impact the common good.     

生石灰膨胀桩在地基加固中的应用

本文从生石灰桩的几个作用阐述了用生石灰桩加固地基的原理，并提出了相应的设计方法，通过工程实例又进一步说明了设计步骤及施工过程。     

The Algebraic Nature of Students’ Numerical Manipulation in the New Zealand Numeracy Project

The New Zealand Ministry of Education has introduced a Numeracy Project for students aged 5–14 years in selected schools. The project encourages the adoption of flexible strategies for solving numerical problems, and discourages reliance on standard computational algorithms. One potential benefit of the project is that the methods students acquire in the project may provide a foundation for algebraic thinking through the use of quasi-variables in numerical operations. In order to evaluate this possibility, we constructed a 21-item test of numerical manipulation that required an underlying awareness of the presence of quasi-variables. The test was administered to 431 12-year-old students who participated in the project and to 468 students who did not. The test consisted of six sections, each of which examined the application of a different aspect of reasoning to numerical problems. The results showed that students who participated in the Numeracy Project solved numerical problems that required manipulation with more success than did students who had not participated in the project. This proved to be the case for three different levels of analysis: for the test as a whole, for each of the six sections of the test, and for every individual item of the test. The results were interpreted as showing that the project fostered students awareness of numbers as quasi-variables and thus provided an early indicator of algebraic thinking.