Science and Technological Development: Towards the Enhancement of Endogenous Capacities—A View from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Following a tour d'horizon of the development of science and science policy in former Yugoslavia, the author focuses on the application of science to development in this country after the Second World War. In particular, she examines the role of computer science in which Yugoslav scientists developed much endogenous capacity. The events following the break-up of Yugoslavia led to the isolation and the emigration of scientists, academics, and graduate students, particularly from Serbia, in the reduced Yugoslavia that remained after the break-up. During the period of sanctions, Yugoslavia was denied even the right to participate in TEMPUS projects that were underway. The TEMPUS III projects in which Yugoslavia can participate are not very helpful in rebuilding the scientific capacity of the country. The country needs assistance, possibly best given through twinning arrangements with universities in other countries, to rebuild its scientific capacity. Economic aid to rebuild infrastructures is also needed. Only when talented young scientists can look forward to a future at home will they no longer seek to emigrate.     

Comparison of methods: Passing and Bablok regression

The comparison of methods experiment is important part in process of analytical methods and instruments validation. Passing and Bablok regression analysis is a statistical procedure that allows valuable estimation of analytical methods agreement and possible systematic bias between them. It is robust, non-parametric, non sensitive to distribution of errors and data outliers. Assumptions for proper application of Passing and Bablok regression are continuously distributed data and linear relationship between data measured by two analytical methods. Results are presented with scatter diagram and regression line, and regression equation where intercept represents constant and slope proportional measurement error. Confidence intervals of 95% of intercept and slope explain if their value differ from value zero (intercept) and value one (slope) only by chance, allowing conclusion of method agreement and correction action if necessary. Residual plot revealed outliers and identify possible non-linearity. Furthermore, cumulative sum linearity test is performed to investigate possible significant deviation from linearity between two sets of data. Non linear samples are not suitable for concluding on method agreement.     

Tackling femininity: the heterosexual paradigm and women's soccer in South Africa

Sport is a social institution that perpetuates gendered ideologies in the wider society through appealing to discourses of the naturalness of men's privilege and domination in society. Heteronormativity regulates the roles, behaviours, appearances and sexualities of, and relationships between and among, women and men. Moreover, heteronormative discourses normalise a particular relationship between sex, gender and sexuality that posits woman/feminine/heterosexual (and man/masculine/heterosexual) as a natural order from which variance is considered a punishable deviance. This paper outlines the effects of heteronormative discourses in the lives of women footballers in South Africa, through drawing on interviews with a wide range of women footballers. The paper shows how heteronormative discourses nurture homophobic attitudes that serve to regulate the appearances and performances of South African women.     

Schematising activities in early childhood education

The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of introducing schematising to children in early childhood and to determine whether schematising can be taught to children. This was done using a longitudinal, quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design (N = 133). In this study, the use of schematising was taught to an experimental group of children to determine if it is possible to realise significantly improved results in schematising tasks for an experimental group in comparison to a control group of children who were not taught schematising. Pupils in the experimental group demonstrated significantly better results on schematising, which cannot be explained by maturation. In our future research, we will investigate the mathematical performances of these experimental and control groups in the next grade of the primary school curriculum.     

Testing Inequality Constrained Hypotheses in SEM Models

Researchers often have expectations that can be expressed in the form of inequality constraints among the parameters of a structural equation model. It is currently not possible to test these so-called informative hypotheses in structural equation modeling software. We offer a solution to this problem using Mplus. The hypotheses are evaluated using plug-in p values with a calibrated alpha level. The method is introduced and its utility is illustrated by means of an example.     

Early Childhood Teachers Reconstruct Beliefs and Practices Through Reflexive Action

Professional development, which results in sustained transformative change, requires that teachers engage in critical reflection regarding teaching practices. In this study, a group of five bilingual and generalist early childhood teachers engaged in a journey in which they elected to try to reconstruct their beliefs and practices about teaching and learning. In response to a school district's needs, these teachers were enrolled as a cohort in an early childhood graduate program that served as part of their professional development endeavor. The teachers used reflection and ongoing dialogue that bridged theory and practice as they raised questions about their daily practices in relation to theoretical perspectives. We provide a glimpse of these teachers' ongoing transformative journeys and provide suggestions for early childhood teachers to engage in sustained professional development.     

Towards new learning environments—Collective civic actions as learning interventions in post-Communist Belgrade

This article focuses on the social dimension of well-being, based on a critical analysis of the way it is conceptualised in late capitalism: As the dimensions of individual state of mind and body, something that evolves in the individual realm, stressing personal responsibility and achievement of well-being as a solitary act. Then, the contemporary conceptualisation and approaches to policy making for well-being are compared with the policy of adult and youth education and learning. The perspective of a strong individual orientation, detachment from the social, community and collective aspects and efforts seem to be a common denominator. Agency is considered not only as a possibility for individuals to create and change the environment, but also as a process of active co-construction of social reality. This includes (re)connection with a community, very often through new ways of community learning, civic actions and civic activities. An analysis of how these perspectives converge in civic interventions in urban areas of Belgrade places togetherness at the core of the broader approach to well-being and learning. This article presents several examples of civic activities in urban spaces whose learning character is interpreted within the concept of public pedagogy. The examples presented prevail in the post-Communist countries because public spaces as zones of civic interventions can oppose the controlling authority and through the fight for human and civil rights represent the bottom line of togetherness and collective agency. Learning through collective civic actions thus provides new ways of understanding well-being.     

The Rise in Single-Mother Families and Children’s Cognitive Development: Evidence From Three British Birth Cohorts

This article assessed changes in the association between single motherhood and children’s verbal cognitive ability at age-11 using data from three cohorts of British children, born in 1958 (n = 10,675), 1970 (n = 8,933) and 2000 (n = 9,989), and mediation analysis. Consistent with previous studies, direct effects were small and insignificant. For those born in 1958 and 1970 indirect effects, operating through reduced economic and parental resources, were associated with −.107-SD to −.156-SD lower attainment. Differences between the two cohorts, and by children’s age when parents separated, were insignificant. For the 2000 cohort, effect sizes for children born to single mothers did not change significantly (−.112-SD) but attenuated for children whose parents separated in early childhood (−.076-SD) or while of school age (−.054-SD).     

Authors from the periphery countries choose open access more often

This article analyses attitudes of academic authors toward open access (OA) and the frequency of choosing OA publication venues. The research looks particularly at differences between authors based in countries with a gross domestic product per capita less or greater than US$18,000 (called periphery and core countries, respectively). The data were obtained with an online survey sent to 107,296 scholars listed on the mailing lists belonging to De Gruyter Open from December 2015 to January 2016. A total of 1,012 responses were received. Authors from the periphery countries publish their articles in gold OA more often and they also pay OA publication fees equally often as those based in the core countries. The reasons for that are complex, involving both their preference to publish in OA and the composition of the publishing market in the periphery.     

Cytocompatible cellulose nanofibers from invasive plant species Agave americana L. and Ricinus communis L.: a renewable green source of highly crystalline nanocellulose

In this study, the fibers of invasive species Agave americana L. and Ricinus communis L. were successfully used for the first time as new sources to produce cytocompatible and highly crystalline cellulose nanofibers. Cellulose nanofibers were obtained by two methods, based on either alkaline or acid hydrolysis. The morphology, chemical composition, and crystallinity of the obtained materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) together with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX), dynamic light scattering(DLS), X-ray diffraction(XRD), and Fourier transform infrared(FTIR)spectroscopy. The crystallinity indexes(CIs) of the cellulose nanofibers extracted from A. americana and R. communis were very high(94.1% and 92.7%, respectively). Biological studies evaluating the cytotoxic effects of the prepared cellulose nanofibers on human embryonic kidney 293 T(HEK293 T) cells were also performed. The nanofibers obtained using the two different extraction methods were all shown to be cytocompatible in the concentration range assayed(i.e., 0-500 μg/mL). Our results showed that the nanocellulose extracted from A. americana and R. communis fibers has high potential as a new renewable green source of highly crystalline cellulose-based cytocompatible nanomaterials for biomedical applications.