Sex-specific response strategies in mental rotation

The present study investigated whether the marked sex difference in the original mental rotation test (MRT) is simply a result of sex differences in response strategies. Thirty-four participants (17 males, 17 females) completed the revised Vandenberg and Kuse MRT [Peters, M., Laeng, B., Latham, K., Jackson, M., Zaiyouna, R., & Richardson, C. (1995). A redrawn Vandenberg & Kuse Mental Rotations Tests: Different versions and factors that affect performance. Brain and Cognition, 28, 39–58.] and a modified MRT. In the modified version, the number of matching figures varied from zero to four, so that participants had to match every single figure to the target, impeding leaps. Both men and women showed reduced performance in the modified version. However, men were clearly more affected than women. Although sex differences in the modified MRT were somewhat reduced, men still outperformed women (original MRT: d = .95, modified MRT: d = .76). The findings suggest that men rely more on a leaping response strategy than women, however, the robust sex differences in MRT was only marginally affected by sex differences in response strategies.     

Research collaboration and productivity: is there correlation?

The incidence of extramural collaboration in academic research activities is increasing as a result of various factors. These factors include policy measures aimed at fostering partnership and networking among the various components of the research system, policies which are in turn justified by the idea that knowledge sharing could increase the effectiveness of the system. Over the last two decades, the scientific community has also stepped up activities to assess the actual impact of collaboration intensity on the performance of research systems. This study draws on a number of empirical analyses, with the intention of measuring the effects of extramural collaboration on research performance and, indirectly, verifying the legitimacy of policies that support this type of collaboration. The analysis focuses on the Italian academic research system. The aim of the work is to assess the level of correlation, at institutional level, between scientific productivity and collaboration intensity as a whole, both internationally and with private organizations. This will be carried out using a bibliometric type of approach, which equates collaboration with the co-authorship of scientific publications.

Product portfolio performance in new foreign markets: The EU trademark dual system

How do intellectual propriety rights (IPRs) help firms profit from their innovation? Innovation literature frequently turns to patents to measure innovative IPR, but more recent work shifts focus to the other side of IPR, namely, trademarks. This article therefore discusses the effects of trademark strategies when companies decide to introduce their product portfolios in a new foreign market. Entrants might opt for a common trademark across different country markets (integration) or use several country-specific trademarks (responsiveness). This empirical study exploits the quasi-natural experiment created by the tariff shock that affected Spain when it joined the European Union in the 1990s. Data from the automotive industry reveal how non-European companies that already operated in other European countries sought to enter Spain rapidly, using various trademark strategies. The product portfolio characteristics are fixed at entry, so this study can specify how and when trademark responsiveness versus integration affects firm performance. The results reveal that trademark responsiveness increases firm performance if the firms suffer high liabilities of foreignness or newness.     

Finding what is missing from a digital library: A case study in the Computer Science field

This article proposes a process to retrieve the URL of a document for which metadata records exist in a digital library catalog but a pointer to the full text of the document is not available. The process uses results from queries submitted to Web search engines for finding the URL of the corresponding full text or any related material. We present a comprehensive study of this process in different situations by investigating different query strategies applied to three general purpose search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN) and two specialized ones (Scholar and CiteSeer), considering five user scenarios. Specifically, we have conducted experiments with metadata records taken from the Brazilian Digital Library of Computing (BDBComp) and The DBLP Computer Science Bibliography (DBLP). We found that Scholar was the most effective search engine for this task in all considered scenarios and that simple strategies for combining and re-ranking results from Scholar and Google significantly improve the retrieval quality. Moreover, we study the influence of the number of query results on the effectiveness of finding missing information as well as the coverage of the proposed scenarios.     

Institutions of Higher Education and the Nationalist State

Significant changes in state economic priorities are likely to have a formative and fateful effect on institutions of higher education. Yet economic accounts cannot themselves explain changes in the economic priorities of nationalist states, in part because of the ideological character of such states. The nationalist state's influence on institutions of higher education is often indirect, involving the interactions of social and political actors who are themselves influenced by prevailing social ideologies. Social ideologies contribute to shifts in state economic priorities, and these changes can indirectly but significantly influence the trajectory of institutions of higher education. A longitudinal case study of a Canadian distanceeducation university demonstrates the means by which nationalist sentiment encouraged a shift in state economic priorities, which in turn created a welcoming social climate for a new university's consumerist model of education.     

A procedure for determining the chemical composition of binder and aggregate in ancient mortars: its application to mortars from some medieval buildings in Pisa

The use of a scanning electron microscope equipped with a microanalytical system is proposed for characterising ancient mortars. A calculation procedure is presented that allows a determination of the binder and aggregate compositions (including volatile components) from microprobe data collected on the binder, and chemical, mineralogical, petrographical and physical data collected on the mortar bulk sample. The proposed procedure is applied to 11 mortar samples from three historical monuments built in Pisa throughout the Middle Ages. The binder of the analysed samples consists of a carbonate crystalline fraction and an amorphous carbonate-free fraction that makes up from 20 to 60 % by weight of the binder. The aggregate composition, on average, is close to that of the Arno River sands.     

The Representation of Virtual Reality in Education

Students' opinions about the opportunities and the implications of VR in instruction were investigated by administering a questionnaire to humanities and engineering undergraduates. The questionnaire invited participants to rate a series of statements concerning motivation and emotion, skills, cognitive styles, benefits and learning outcomes associated with the use of VR in education. The representation which emerged was internally consistent and articulated into specific dimensions. It was not affected by gender, by the previous use of VR software, or by the knowledge of the main topics concerning the introduction of IT in instruction. Also the direct participation in a training session based on an immersive VR experience did not influence such a representation, which was partially modulated by the kind of course attended by students.     

Hernán Cortés: Virtù vs. Fortuna

En este trabajo analizo algunas de las hazañas del conquistador Hernán Cortés, en base a los conceptos de “virtu” y “fortuna.” Visto desde esta perspectiva, Cortés aparece como un hombre de indiscutible inteligencia y valentía personal cuyos logros políticos en Mesoamérica han sido sobre-estimados.