Enhancing the Executive Functions of 3‐Year‐Olds in the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task

Executive functions enable flexible thinking, something young children are notoriously bad at. For instance, in the dimensional change card sort (DCCS) task, 3‐year‐olds can sort cards by one dimension (shape), but continue to sort by this dimension when asked to switch (to color). This study tests a prediction of a dynamic neural field model that prior experience with the postswitch dimension can enhance 3‐year‐olds' performance in the DCCS. In Experiment 1A, a matching game was used to preexpose 3‐year‐olds (n = 36) to color. This facilitated switching from sorting by shape to color. In 3 , 3‐year‐olds (n = 18) were preexposed to shape. This did not facilitate switching from sorting by color to shape. The model was used to explain this asymmetry.     

From Awareness to Action: College Students’ Skill Development in Intergroup Dialogue

A central goal of intergroup dialogue (IGD) is to strengthen individual and collective capacities to foster social justice commitments by supporting new ways of thinking about oneself, others, and the social structures in which we live. Relatedly, IGD assists individuals with building multicultural competencies and skill sets that support peoples’ capacities to take action and work towards social change. The following qualitative study contributes to current research by describing the types of skills undergraduate students report learning as a result of their IGD experience and the challenges they encounter as they develop communication, cognitive, and affective skills.     

A comparison of the perceptions of Love, Anger, and Guilt in Portugal and the United States and implications for counseling

This study compared the ways that graduate and undergraduate counseling and psychology students from Portugal and the United States evaluated the feelings of Love, Anger and Guilt. Utilizing a semantic differential, a multivariate analysis of variance was employed in which the independent variables were Country and Gender and the dependent variables were the evaluative and potency scales of Love, Anger and Guilt. There was no significant main effect for gender and there was no significant interaction effect for gender by country. There was a significant main effect for country. It was found that students from the United States evaluated Anger more positively than the Portuguese students and that the Portuguese students evaluated Guilt more positively than the United States students. These findings have implications that are relevant to the counseling process.     

The dynamics of connecting universities,non-governmental organizations and community members by means of academic projects directed at people in need

In this article we discuss an action research experience that took place from 2002 to 2015. We analyze the inception and progress of several project-based learning-centered academic courses that were aimed at developing the project management skills of graduate and undergraduate students. The experience involved approximately 1800 students from two universities and 40 community partners. The students developed real-life projects on behalf of institutions and non-governmental organizations located in the area that help people in need; we refer to these agencies as ‘community partners.’ We analyze the development of the course from a systemic perspective, making use of causal loop diagrams in order to understand the main driving dynamics. We discuss the results achieved by these projects and the benefits brought to the community partners. We also present testimony from the community partners themselves. We conclude by presenting the lessons we learned over the years we have been running this course.     

School principals’ views of teacher evaluation policy: lessons learned from two empirical studies

Teacher evaluation accountability policies are emerging worldwide. This study examines principals’ perceptions of teacher evaluation in terms of commonalities and differences arising from two research projects conducted in Portugal and in the US. Perceptions of school principals in regard to a new policy on teacher evaluation as well as its perceived effects at school and conditions for its implementation will be analysed. Findings point to the challenges and successes of coping with mandated accountability measures in two different contexts. Principals balanced perceived conflicting goals, sought maintenance of positive teacher relationships and school culture and managed the tensions of policy implementation and the making sense of its effects at school. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Honey-bee mating optimization (HBMO) algorithm for optimal reservoir operation

In recent years, evolutionary and meta-heuristic algorithms have been extensively used as search and optimization tools in various problem domains, including science, commerce, and engineering. Ease of use, broad applicability, and global perspective may be considered as the primary reason for their success. The honey-bee mating process has been considered as a typical swarm-based approach to optimization, in which the search algorithm is inspired by the process of real honey-bee mating. In this paper, the honey-bee mating optimization (HBMO) algorithm is presented and tested with a nonlinear, continuous constrained problem with continuous decision and state variables to demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm in handling the single reservoir operation optimization problems. It is shown that the performance of the model is quite comparable with the results of the well-developed traditional linear programming (LP) solvers such as LINGO 8.0. Results obtained are quite promising and compare well with the final results of the other approach.     

Using Health Literacy in School to Overcome Inequalities

Health literacy has firmly established the links between literacy skills and health outcomes and is subsequently considered a key strategy for improving the health of disadvantaged populations and addressing social inequality. However, current research findings for improving health literacy have primarily focused on adults and actions within health and health care settings. Implementation studies outside the health sector are scarce. This study, a subset of the INCLUD-ED community- based project on social inclusion, reports on successful community-based approaches to health literacy. This article focuses on two schools that take advantage of the cultural intelligence of their students' family members, allowing them to make health literacy programmes more effective and useful for the participants. In addition, family involvement in educational activities addressed to children, including health programmes, has been found to improve the health literacy of the participating adults and their use of healthcare services. Findings indicate that schools in Europe can play a key role in breaking the cycle of health inequalities by promoting health literacy through education.     

图书馆知识产权风险评估指标体系构建

文章科学设计图书馆知识产权风险评估指标体系构建的原则,对图书馆知识产权风险现状进行SWOT分析,再运用层次分析法进行定性分析计算,构建出科学、合理的图书馆知识产权风险评估指标体系。