Enhancing quality with a research-based student feedback instrument: a comparison of veterinary students’ learning experiences in two culturally different European universities

This paper explores the value of a research-based student inventory from the quality assurance point of view in two culturally different European higher education institutions for veterinary education. Perceived heavy workload is a well-known problem in veterinary studies and is a challenge to the quality of learning. First- and third-year students in both institutions responded to an inventory consisting of items regarding their approaches to learning, self-efficacy, study workload and the teaching-learning environment. There were differences in students’ approaches to learning and perceived workload between the two institutions. In both contexts, the strongest predictor of the workload turned out to be the surface approach to learning. Self-efficacy showed a positive correlation with the deep approach to learning and organised studying. The strengths of the teaching-learning environment varied between the institutions. Moreover, the present study discusses how the gained information could be used in improving the teaching-learning environment and students’ learning.     

School experience,relational justice and legitimation of institutional

This study analysis the relationship between perceptions of the justice of teacher’ behaviour and (a) the legitimation of school authority and (b) the legitimation of institutional authorities outside school. 448 adolescent students participated in the study. In questionnaire participants were asked about (a) perceptions of the justice of teachers’ behaviour; (b) evaluation of the school experience; and (c) evaluation of institutional authorities. Results show that the evaluation of the justice of teacher behaviour, in particular relational and procedural justice, have an impact on the legitimation of the authority of teachers and on the evaluation of institutional authorities outside school. Results also show that the legitimacy granted to teachers is a mediator variable between perceptions of justice in school and evaluation of authorities outside school. These results are discussed in the context of the studies on the relationship between school experience and adolescents attitudes towards authorities, and in the framework of the “Relational Model of Authority” and of the “Group Value Model”.     

Co-evolution of physical and social technologies in clinical practice: The case of HIV treatments

In this paper, we investigate the interplay of clinical knowledge and technological capabilities in the recent development of HIV/AIDS treatments and offer qualitative and quantitative evidence from the empirical setting of Italian practice. The study contributes to the literature on the co-evolution of physical and social technologies in medical innovation by showing how professional guidelines, systematic evaluative research and local coordination mechanisms contribute actively to the resolution of the uncertainty that surrounds technological advances, while leaving room for largely discretional therapeutic choices. The resulting variety in implementation strategies improves health outcomes, but may reduce productive efficiency.     

Individual, family, and neighborhood factors distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children: a cumulative stressors model

OBJECTIVE: Children who are physically maltreated are at risk of a range of adverse outcomes in childhood and adulthood, but some children who are maltreated manage to function well despite their history of adversity. Which individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children? Do children's individual strengths promote resilience even when children are exposed to multiple family and neighborhood stressors (cumulative stressors model)? METHODS: Data were from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Study which describes a nationally representative sample of 1,116 twin pairs and their families. Families were home-visited when the twins were 5 and 7 years old, and teachers provided information about children's behavior at school. Interviewers rated the likelihood that children had been maltreated based on mothers' reports of harm to the child and child welfare involvement with the family. RESULTS: Resilient children were those who engaged in normative levels of antisocial behavior despite having been maltreated. Boys (but not girls) who had above-average intelligence and whose parents had relatively few symptoms of antisocial personality were more likely to be resilient versus non-resilient to maltreatment. Children whose parents had substance use problems and who lived in relatively high crime neighborhoods that were low on social cohesion and informal social control were less likely to be resilient versus non-resilient to maltreatment. Consistent with a cumulative stressors model of children's adaptation, individual strengths distinguished resilient from non-resilient children under conditions of low, but not high, family and neighborhood stress. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that for children residing in multi-problem families, personal resources may not be sufficient to promote their adaptive functioning.     

浅析基于ETL技术和全表扫描哈希对比的数据同步方法

数据同步技术随着企业对各个信息系统之间数据共享的重视而变得越来越重要,数据同步的方法有很多,本文主要介绍基于ETL技术和基于全表扫描及哈希对比两种数据同步方法。基于ETL技术的数据同步是基于中间逻辑表完成数据转换,再通过主键和时间戳的对比而完成数据同步过程。本文以Kettle工具为例进行分析;基于全表扫描及哈希对比的数据同步是基于视图完成数据转换,再通过hash算法扫描对比而完成数据同步过程。     

Nanocontainer aqueous systems for removing polymeric materials from marble surfaces: A new and promising tool in cultural heritage conservation

The present study dealt with the characterisation of marble surfaces coated by three kinds of polymeric material usually employed in stones conservation and with the evaluation of the removal of these coatings from the surfaces by means of new nanocontainer aqueous systems constituted of micellar solutions (MS) and oil-in-water microemulsions (MC). The polymeric coatings were also subjected to accelerated artificial ageing in order to detect possible effects associated to natural photochemical ageing. The aim of the work was the assessment of the performance of such nanocontainer aqueous systems taking acetone (Ac) as a reference “traditional” solvent for the removal procedure. The characterisation was carried out by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopies and the results obtained showed that the performance of these innovative methods based on nanocontainer aqueous systems can be considered highly promising in the view of a “green approach” to the conservation of cultural heritage.     

Educational program on evaluation of alleged sexual abuse victims

Increased awareness of the problem of child sexual abuse has resulted in increasing numbers of children presenting to professionals for the evaluation of possible sexual victimization. A multidisciplinary project to develop professionals' knowledge and skills in the identification and evaluation of possible victims is described. The program focused on the child as a victim and emphasized developmental perspectives with regard to identification, interviewing children, the medical examination, and children in the legal system. Fifty-one medical and social work professionals from ten Indiana counties attended the program and responded to questionnaires about their experience and knowledge. Of 40 (78%) respondents, 63% had had no previous training in the medical evaluation for child sexual abuse. Child protective workers referred alleged victims primarily to the child's regular physician (37%) or emergency room (31%) for medical examination. Knowledge about child sexual abuse improved significantly at two weeks postsymposium (p = .001) and remained improved at six months postsymposium (p less than .02). These original participants have subsequently organized similar multidisciplinary programs in their local communities for medical, social, law enforcement, and legal professionals; thus, they have been "seeds" for further educational and cooperative efforts throughout the state.     

Lost and Found: Making Sense of Foreign Spaces and the Self with Public Transport

How does public transport both enable and restrict one’s negotiation and interaction with cultural, social and material landscapes? The understanding of social space and self is guided by one’s journey through those spaces, by witnessing events and public conduct. This article presents autoethnographic accounts of two communication studies researchers placed in Cape Town, South Africa, and Helsinki, Finland, for more than three months. In both situations, researchers relied on public transport with which they were unfamiliar. This study considers how those experiences were perceived, and how the researchers encountered and experienced the new social environments, local population and themselves.