The Slavic Humanities Index: A New Electronic Tool for Scholarly Research in the Field of Central,Eastern, and Southeastern European Studies

In this article, the author discusses the creation of an electronic index of scholarly Slavic periodicals in the humanities, which will launch in early 2012. The aim of this project is to create a standard electronic reference tool in the field of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Studies, which will help professors, students, and researchers. The index contains important scholarly journals from Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Indexing begins with 1994 issues and is ongoing. In the future, significant retrospective journals will be indexed in order to improve the tool's research capabilities. The index contains not only articles, but also all book reviews and information on conferences, workshops, organizations, and foundations. The index currently contains citations of over 125,000 articles from more than 143 Slavic journals in the humanities. The use of the Library of Congress transliteration scheme and subject headings will assist users to perform effective searches.     

If gifted/learning disabled students have wisdom,they have all things!

The Hartnett, Nelson, and Rinn 2004 study indicates that diagnostic confusion between ADD/ADHD and giftedness exists, and that research on medication practices is warranted. Mika disagrees, saying that there is no empirical evidence of misdiagnosis of gifted children as having ADD/ADHD. We disagree with Mika's logic, and describe evidence that suggests that such misdiagnosis does occur, with possible concurrent risks.     

Using an integrated theoretical framework for understanding inter-agency collaboration in the special educational needs field

This paper draws upon qualitative data from a study that examines inter-professional and inter-agency collaboration between education and social work authorities in assessing the special educational needs of pre-school children. It is argued that only by combining aspects of the three main models of inter-agency collaboration, namely the social exchange, power/resource dependency and political economy perspectives, is it possible to understand the complexity of inter-organizational relations and the reasons why collaboration into special educational needs continues to be limited in extent and poor in quality. It is shown how the motivation of inter-agency collaboration between education and social work authorities is simultaneously internal and voluntary (social exchange model) and external and involuntary, in terms of being imposed by a third party (political economy model). It is demonstrated how these two welfare agencies are engaging in some exchange and some power/resource dependency interactions. It is argued that it is difficult to assess the extent of interdependence (unilateral interdependence and reciprocal interdependence) in exchange relationships and, thus, whether there is symmetry and/or equality in these interactions. The internal and external factors that influence such interactions are briefly outlined in the final section.     

Intra-abdominal pressures during activity in women using an intra-vaginal pressure transducer

Abstract

Strenuous physical activity has been linked to pelvic floor disorders in women. Using a novel wireless intra-vaginal pressure transducer, intra-abdominal pressure was measured during diverse activities in a laboratory. Fifty-seven women performed a prescribed protocol using the intra-vaginal pressure transducer. We calculated maximal, area under the curve and first moment of the area intra-abdominal pressure for each activity. Planned comparisons of pressure were made between levels of walking and cycling and between activities with reported high pressure in the literature. Findings indicate variability in intra-abdominal pressure amongst individuals doing the same activity, especially in activities that required regulation of effort. There were statistically significant differences in maximal pressure between levels of walking, cycling and high pressure activities. Results for area under the curve and first moment of the area were not always consistent with maximal pressure. Coughing had the highest maximal pressure, but had lower area under the curve and first moment of the area compared to most activities. Our data reflect novel findings of maximal, area under the curve and first moment of the area measures of intra-abdominal pressure, which may have clinical relevance for how physical activity relates to pelvic floor dysfunction.     

Information rights and national security

The changes in the global information landscape, as epitomized by the reaction of governments to the 9/11 attacks, resulted in legislation, policy, and the formation of agencies that have affected many issues related to information and its use. This article examines the recent multiplicity of challenges that affect citizens' control and use of information. In the name of the war on terror, greater national security, and globalization trends, information laws, and policies often go further than is necessary and impact on the information rights of citizens. In this article, we advocate for bringing together what are at times disparate information issues under one label, namely, “information rights” (which include privacy, freedom of expression, access, etc.). Information rights are apprehended from a user-centered perspective (i.e., users as citizens, not just consumers). They cover many different aspects of the information life cycle and the roles and responsibilities of individuals and communities. Such an approach provides an alternative way of framing current information issues as they relate to national security policies and civil liberties in the broader sense.     

Condition Assessment of Historic House Collections: Testing Different Statistical Methods at the Château de Versailles

ABSTRACT

One of the aims of the European Protocol in Preventive Conservation (EPICO) research programme was to implement a simple and flexible assessment method applicable to the majority of historic houses. We present results to verify statistical methods for the application in the assessment of heterogeneous in collections historic houses. For a collection with less than five hundred objects, a complete inventory by two people is possible, in order to collect information about the objects and their condition. A sample is representative when it has the same characteristics as the population studied. In the case of a very small population it is difficult to obtain representative results: here the sample should be almost equal to the total population. Therefore significant work must be done prior to assessment to properly identify the characteristics of the mother population. In the absence of sufficient representativeness, the results obtained from a sample cannot be generalized to the population being studied.     

How have target pupil,peer and school level outcomes related to peer-mediated interventions for pupils with ASD been evaluated?

There is an increasing interest in the role of peers in facilitating the social interaction skills of pupils with autism spectrum disorder through peer-mediated interventions (PMI). Several reviews provide promising evidence for the effectiveness of this approach; however, there has been limited consideration of the range of outcome foci and methods used to evaluate PMI. The purpose of the current review is to provide an overview of methods used to evaluate the impact of PMI and illuminate key examples of innovative practice. Database and web searches were conducted between July and August 2015 to identify PMI studies published between 2000 and 2015. Ten studies met criteria for inclusion. The review found that although measuring the outcome of PMI at the level of target pupils has been a focus, less attention has been given to exploring the experiences of participants; the impact on peers and the extent to which PMI can truly be implemented within an educational context. Implications for future methods of evaluating PMI are discussed.     

Parenting styles and academic achievement of early adolescent girls in Iran: mediating roles of parent involvement and self-regulated learning

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Early adolescent girls’ (6th grade) academic achievement was examined using parenting styles as predictors and parent involvement and early...     

Higher education and the marketization of compulsory schooling: english universities and academy sponsorship

ABSTRACT

Recent policy emphasis on market mechanisms to drive up the performance of education systems has resulted in rising fees and increased competition in higher education in England, and in the creation of different types of self-governing state-funded schools run independently of municipal authority in compulsory schooling. University sponsorship of Charter Schools in the US raises issues which this article examines in relation to university sponsorship of academies in England. The article provides a quantitative overview of university sponsorship of academies over the last decade and explores how the policy context has shaped the discursive construction of sponsorship by the institutions concerned. Different patterns of sponsorship linked to institutional position and differentiated discourses of ‘sponsorship’ consistent with ‘academic entrepreneurship’ are identified. The discursive function of sponsorship is argued to extend to a legitimation of the policy itself reflected in increasing government pressure on universities to sponsor academies.     

Curriculum response to the crisis

PROSPECTS - Education is going through a period of crisis related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that most probably will follow a continuum organized into distinct phases: emergency, recovery,...