Impact in the school system of a strategy for identifying and selecting academically talented students: the experience of Program PENTA‐UC

The study explores the consequences, for participating schools, of the implementation of a system for the identification and selection of academically talented students, in the context of an extracurricular enrichment program operating at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. The participants were 73 students, 50 teachers, and seven members of the school administration, in seven schools. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups. The results indicated that the identification and selection processes have mostly positive effects on teachers and students. Some potentially negative effects were also detected for the classmates of the talented students, which relate mainly to the manner in which information was handled. Possible implications of these findings for this program for talented children and other similar programs are discussed.     

The Impact of an Erasmus Placement in Students’ Perception of their Intercultural Communicative Competence

Pre- and post-questionnaires answered by UK Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Spain’s University of Salamanca (USAL) students on their placement abroad support a comparative analysis of its impact on their intercultural communicative competence, comprising the awareness, attitude, skills and knowledge dimensions. NTU students started their placements with better results in them all. Yet, while both groups completed their stay with a similarly increased awareness, the knowledge and skills of the USAL group matched the results of NTU students and, whereas the scores of the attitude dimension towards the host country of NTU students did not increase significantly, those of USAL students decreased.     

Development and validation of the moral disengagement in sport scale

A sport-specific measure of moral disengagement was developed in 2 studies. In Study 1, a 59-item questionnaire was developed and tested with 308 athletes from 5 team sports. A series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) testing different models suggested the model that best fitted the data had 6 first-order factors that could be represented by 1 second-order factor. Study 2 involved 305 athletes from the same 5 sports. CFA confirmed the 6-factor, second-order structure for the final 32-item measure. Results from Study 2 supported the construct validity of the scale, providing evidence for the factorial, concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity. The Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale (MDSS) is proposed as a valid and reliable measure of moral disengagement for use in the sport context.     

Cosmopolitical encounters: Prototyping at the National Zoo in Santiago,Chile

This article presents an empirical reflection on how the prototyping of an environmental enrichment device for chimpanzees at the National Zoo of Chile precipitates a cosmopolitical encounter. Using material produced by design students, zookeepers and the chimps Judy and Gombe, we describe how prototyping iterations establish open processes of dialogue and encounters among humans and nonhumans. The case will demonstrate how prototyping can go further than the generation of models of an original. On the contrary, the cosmopolitical encounter emerging from the prototyping process makes evident a truly ontological vocation, acknowledging humans and other-than-human beings as singular entities. Its provisional and malleable nature turns this device into a privileged locus for the exploration of interspecies entanglement. Although zoos are scientifically organized institutions, in this case we observe how its anthropocentric hierarchy was performatively reshuffled at certain moments of the prototyping process. The cosmopolitical qualities of the prototyping process analyzed derive from its capacity to deploy an ethics of attention and care between the agencies at play, that is, for unfold gestures of mutual vulnerability. Finally, we propose prototyping as a device for moving from cosmopolitics as a way of understanding the world to cosmopolitics as a matter of design.     

Measuring allocative efficiency in Cultural Economics: the case of “Fundación Princesa de Asturias” (The Princess of Asturias Foundation)

The literature on Cultural Economics provides us with some examples for the measurement of technical efficiency. However, there are few case studies dedicated to the analysis of allocative efficiency. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by incorporating a methodology that analyses both technical and allocative efficiency. We use the Shephard’s distance function, particularly suitable when affronted with non-profit-making firms or institutions that are not interested in cost minimization. As an empirical application, we analyse the efficiency of Fundación Princesa de Asturias (PAF), a Spanish non-governmental organization devoted to promoting the cultural, scientific and humanistic values of universal heritage, the period of study being 1988–2012. Our findings suggest that PAF could have used 7% less inputs to achieve the same level of output. On the other hand, we have found allocative inefficiency. Concretely, the input for other expenditures appears to have been over-utilized in relation to both the inputs for labour and current assets, with labour in turn being over-utilized in relation to current assets. Moreover, our results indicate that both technical and allocative efficiency have clearly improved during the period analysed. In summary, our empirical application shows how distance function methodology can be successfully implemented to measure allocative efficiency in cultural firms and institutions.     

Political satire and its disruptive potential: irony and cynicism in Russia and the US

When cynical distance and ironic posturing have become the prevalent means of relating to public life, political humour is no longer considered subversive. It has been argued that both in Russia and the United States, ideology has co-opted satire, meaning that citizens can consume outrage passively through various satirical media products, thereby displacing outrage and abstaining from more active forms of resistance. This articles explores the twenty-first century potential of irony and cynicism to disrupt and subvert through parody, be it in the form of political satire or ironic protest, examining how similar paradigms are expressed across different geographical contexts.     

Identity and Otherness: Maghribi Images in the Historiography about Alfonso XI of Castile (1311–1350)

This work studies the information that the historiography on King Alfonso XI of Castile offers on the Marīnid dynasty of Fes. In spite of the confrontation between the two states in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for the control of the Strait of Gibraltar and the southern part of Andalusia, the Alfonsine texts (the Crónica del Rey don Alfonso el Onceno, the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI and, to a lesser extent, the Poema of Alfonso Onceno) attempt to reconstruct the history of the rival sultanate through a verifiable and rigorous approach comparing with Arab sources from that period. In this regard, their ideological conception moves away from the usual stereotypes, which are generally negative in the way they portray the other, i.e. the Maghribi opponent. In contrast, Alfonsine historiography assumes the empathetic portrayal of the identity values of the rival as part of the task of the historian, and uses the history and deeds of the adversaries to highlight the victory of the Castilian monarch over them.     

Optimal sampling frequency in recording of resistance training exercises

The purpose of this study was to analyse the raw lifting speed collected during four different resistance training exercises to assess the optimal sampling frequency. Eight physically active participants performed sets of Squat Jumps, Countermovement Jumps, Squats and Bench Presses at a maximal lifting speed. A linear encoder was used to measure the instantaneous speed at a 200 Hz sampling rate. Subsequently, the power spectrum of the signal was computed by evaluating its Discrete Fourier Transform. The sampling frequency needed to reconstruct the signals with an error of less than 0.1% was f_99.9 = 11.615 ± 2.680 Hz for the exercise exhibiting the largest bandwidth, with the absolute highest individual value being 17.467 Hz. There was no difference between sets in any of the exercises. Using the closest integer sampling frequency value (25 Hz) yielded a reconstruction of the signal up to 99.975 ± 0.025% of its total in the worst case. In conclusion, a sampling rate of 25 Hz or above is more than adequate to record raw speed data and compute power during resistance training exercises, even under the most extreme circumstances during explosive exercises. Higher sampling frequencies provide no increase in the recording precision and may instead have adverse effects on the overall data quality.     

Effectiveness of physical education to promote motor competence in primary school children

Background: Motor skill (MS) competence is an important contributing factor for healthy development.

Purpose: The goal was to test the effectiveness of primary school physical education (PE) on MS and physical fitness (PF) development.

Methods: Three classes (n?=?60, aged 9.0?±?0.9) were randomly assigned to three diverse conditions during a school year: two PE lessons/week (PE-2), three PE lessons/week (PE-3), and no PE lessons control group (CG). BMI, skinfolds, PF (9-min run/walk, sit-up, modified pull-ups), gymnastics, soccer, handball, basketball and track-and-field skills were evaluated. Effect sizes (d) were reported as magnitude of change.

Results: Skinfolds significantly increased only in CG (d?=?1.21). PF composite z-scores improved in PE-3 (d?=?0.61), but decreased in PE-2 (d?=?0.57), and had no changes in CG. Statistically significant improvement was verified in gymnastics and handball skills in both experimental groups (gymnastic: d?=?2.95 and d?=?2.61 for PE-3 and PE-2, respectively; handball: d?=?1.87 and d?=?0.57 for PE-3 and PE-2, respectively), and no changes were seen in CG. In soccer, there were improvements only in the PE-3 (d?=?0.55), and in basketball only in PE-2 (d?=?0.46). There were no changes in any group for track-and-field skills.

Conclusions: PE programs can effectively promote PF and MS development.