An Initial Report on the Publishing Activities of the Italian Minority Communities in Croatia and the Istrian and Dalmatian Diasporic Communities in Italy

The report focuses on the publishing activities of the Italian minority communities in Croatia and the Istrian and Dalmatian diasporic communities in Italy. These publications take a variety of forms and include monographs, belle-lettres, reference works, Italian-language textbooks, contemporary literature, and academic journals. Some are published by local organizations, others by university and commercial presses, while others are privately funded. The report is a preliminary effort to document scholarly resources that are important to both Slavic and Italian studies.     

Accuracy of simple,initials-based methods for author name disambiguation

There are a number of solutions that perform unsupervised name disambiguation based on the similarity of bibliographic records or common coauthorship patterns. Whether the use of these advanced methods, which are often difficult to implement, is warranted depends on whether the accuracy of the most basic disambiguation methods, which only use the author's last name and initials, is sufficient for a particular purpose. We derive realistic estimates for the accuracy of simple, initials-based methods using simulated bibliographic datasets in which the true identities of authors are known. Based on the simulations in five diverse disciplines we find that the first initial method already correctly identifies 97% of authors. An alternative simple method, which takes all initials into account, is typically two times less accurate, except in certain datasets that can be identified by applying a simple criterion. Finally, we introduce a new name-based method that combines the features of first initial and all initials methods by implicitly taking into account the last name frequency and the size of the dataset. This hybrid method reduces the fraction of incorrectly identified authors by 10–30% over the first initial method.     

Spot Reducing in Overweight College Women: Its Influence on Fat Distribution as Determined by Photography

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of exercise in reducing body weight in overweight college women and to compare the effect of two types of exercises, spot and generalized, on the physical contour of the overweight individual. The experimental program which included a uniform diet resulted in a slight but significant reduction of weight. Planimetric measurements of selected areas and linear transverse measures, obtained from preexercise and postexercise photographs, yielded evidence of reduction in body segments where fat accumulations had been most conspicuous, regardless of the type of exercise administered.     

Transformation of university governance: on the role of university board members

In this conceptual contribution to the study of university governance the authors will approach potential patterns of behavior of key decision-makers at central university level, i.e. roles of governance actors, as well as the set of factors that shape and constrain the governance actor’s room of manoevre and provide avenues to explain varying role enactments through an actor analysis of members of the newly introduced university boards. In a first part the introduction and empowerment of university boards in European higher education institutions is described as a building block of the transformation of university governance. In the second part the main hypothesis derived is that, in governance practice, board members enact roles which are not only shaped and constrained by formal institutions, as given by the organizational context and regulatory structure, but also by conformable, appropriate and legitimate role expectations of central role senders. As a showcase analysis, the roles of university board members are conceptually explored. Especially in the context of recent reform processes, board members who tend to have a varied status set, very often find themselves in a troubling situation of conflicting role expectations, leading to high levels of role conflicts and role ambiguity. It is the aim of this paper to sketch and examine the factors that contribute to the different roles university board members may take.     

Assessment and recognition of non-formal and informal learning: a Lithuanian case of novice consultants’ experience

This article reports the results of the investigation into institutional support provided to adults by 12 novice consultants on assessment and recognition of their non-formal and informal learning in four institutions of higher education (HEIs) in Lithuania. Using the general systems perspective and perception theory, novice consultants’ perceptions of their experience of guiding and supporting adults was examined with the main aim to provide a better understanding of the challenges that they encountered and the benefits they gained so that to enhance the process. The method of content analysis was employed to investigate novice consultants’ perceptions. The results of their feedback responses revealed four major challenges, including the novelty of the procedure, complexity of the process of portfolio development, difficulty to raise adults’ awareness of the value of the procedure and difficulty to provide moral support to adults, which caused gaps in consultants’ performance. The established benefits included a better understanding of the process, benefits for their professional activity and personal development, improved competence to consult and an impact on the attitude towards others and self. The implications of the findings for fostering consultants’ training to enhance the process of institutional support provided to adults are discussed.     

Humanism,administration and education: the demand of documentation and the production of a new pedagogical desire

Through the example of a Danish reform of educational plans in early childhood education, this paper analyses the emergence of a new pedagogical desire related to administrative educational reforms promoting accountability, visibility and documentation. Two arguments are made: first, it is argued that the changes in administrative practices during the last decade constitute a transformation, but also a reproduction of relations between knowledge and governing that goes back to the big expansion of the welfare state. Second, it is argued that these relations between knowledge and governing are not restricted to the administrative practices, but are part of education and its humanistic legacy as well. As such, the administrative demand of documentation becomes possible and recognisable through its reproductive elements. Elements that are constituted in a transformative conjunction in which the ‘professional nursery teacher’ is produced as a reflective daily researcher, who outlives her pedagogical desire as an analytical care for the optimisation of the ‘learning child’.     

Development of the profession and qualifications of adult educators in Lithuania in the context of reforms of adult education

The Baltic countries regained their independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and joined the European Union in 2004. This article seeks to explore institutional development and reforms of adult education and lifelong learning in Lithuania with respect to the processes, the actors and the context of socioeconomic change over the past 20 years. It also looks at the implications of these processes for the professionalisation of adult educators, referred to here as “adult learning teachers” (ALTs). The authors begin with an analysis of the historical-institutional and political-economical aspects of the development of adult education and lifelong learning by providing a retrospective of institutional change in Lithuania. They then move on to analyse the existing institutional and legal arrangements of adult education which shape and institutionalise the profession and qualifications of ALTs. Their empirical research reveals the opinions of Lithuanian ALTs on their current professional occupational profile and its future development.