The impact of a Curriculum for Resilience Promotion in Deaf Children and Adolescents

Resilience is an interactive process involving internal skills that should be promoted, especially in the early stages of development. This study aims to adapt and implement two themes from the European Curriculum for Resilience Promotion – RESCUR, namely, ‘Developing Communication Skills’ and ‘Establishing and Maintaining Healthy Relationships’, for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students. The study included 37 children and adolescents from three Portuguese regions and its impact was evaluated through the perspectives of the students, their guardians and their teachers. Each 90-minute session was implemented weekly. The sessions followed the RESCUR curriculum structure with necessary adaptations to the mindfulness activities, stories, role-play and worksheets. The mean scores increased from pre- to post-intervention assessment on all instruments, namely, KIDSCREEN-10 (children/adolescents), KIDSCREEN-10 (guardians) and CYRM-28 (teachers). The implementation of adapted curricula promoting resilience seems to be beneficial to DHH children, allowing the development of specific resilience-associated skills, and thus enhancing health, well-being and quality of life.     

Snub Publishing: Evidence from the Anthurium Literature

Snub publishing is a new term that was coined in 2013 to describe a range of publishing cases in which the failure of quality control manifested itself through references in such a way that it would cause unintended damage to snubbed scientists whose names or identity were incorrectly represented in the literature. In this paper, real case studies are presented, mostly related to the author as a “victim” of incompetent editorial oversight, inexperienced or biased authors, or as a “victim” of direct professional conflicts of interest. In essence, this paper serves as a prototype showing in concrete terms how a scientist can or may be professionally snubbed (intentionally or unintentionally). Using the Anthurium literature, this paper aims to raise awareness about snub publishing and seeks to encourage other scientists to also quantify how they too may have been professionally snubbed in the literature.     

Nutritional intake of elite football referees

Abstract

There is a paucity of dietary data in football referees. In this study, 23 elite main and assistant referees (34.4 ± 5.6 years) completed a 7-day dietary record during the competitive season. No nutritional intake differences were observed between main and assistant referees. Referees’ mean daily energy intake (DEI) was 2819 ± 279 kcal. The intake of proteins (1.7 ± 0.2 g · kg^?1), carbohydrates (4.1 ± 0.8 g · kg^?1) and fats (1.4 ± 0.2 g · kg^?1) represented, respectively, 18.4 ± 1.5%, 44.4 ± 4.4% and 34.6 ± 4.1% of the DEI. Carbohydrate intakes before, during and after exercise were 66 ± 42, 7 ± 15 and 120 ± 62 g. Daily carbohydrate, fibre, polyunsaturated fat and water intakes were below recommendations, while fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium intakes were above recommended values. The prevalence of inadequate intake was high for vitamin E (96%), folate (74%), vitamin A (61%), vitamin C (39%), magnesium (26%) and calcium (22%). Carbohydrate intake before, during and after exercise were far from achieving the minimum recommended values. Most referees demonstrated a negligent behaviour of hydration during exercise. Referees would benefit from dietary education in order to optimise performance and health.     

Growth of Social Competence During the Preschool Years: A 3‐Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the stability and growth over a 3‐year period of individual differences in preschool children's social competence, which was assessed in three domains: social engagement/motivation, profiles of behavior and personality attributes characteristic of socially competent young children, and peer acceptance. A total of 255 children (126 girls and 129 boys) participated in this study. Growth curve analyses demonstrated both stability and change with regard to social competence over early childhood. Social competence measures and latent variables were invariant over this time period, individual differences in social competence were largely stable from year to year, and significant increases over time were observed for the domain most closely reflective of specific personal attributes skills.     

Debate on global warming as a socio-scientific issue: science teaching towards political literacy

The focus of this response to the original article by Tom G. H. Bryce and Stephen P. Day (Cult Stud Sci Educ. doi:10.1007/s11422-012-9407-1, 2013) is the use of empirical data to illustrate and expand the understanding of key points of their argument. Initially, I seek to discuss possible answers to the three questions posed by the authors related to: (1) the concerns to be addressed and the scientific knowledge to be taken into account in the climate change debate, (2) the attention to be paid to perspectives taken by “alarmists” and “deniers,” and (3) the approaches to be used to conduct controversial global warming debate. In this discussion, I seek to contribute to the debate proposed by the original paper, illustrating various points commented on by the authors and expanding to other possibilities, which highlight the importance of political issues in the debate. Therefore, I argue that socio-political issues must be taken into account when I aim for a scientific literacy that can enhance students’ political education. Likewise, I extend the debate presented in the original article, emphasizing the attention that should be paid to these aspects and approaching science education from a critical perspective. Highlighting only the confirmation bias without considering political implications of the debate can induce a reductionist and empiricist view of science, detached from the political power that acts on scientific activity. In conclusion, I support the idea that for a critical science education, the discussion of political issues should be involved in any controversial debate, a view, which goes beyond the confirmation bias proposed by Bryce and Day for the global warming debate. These issues are indeed vital and science teachers should take them into account when preparing their lessons for the debate on climate change.     

Effects of concurrent training on interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and C-reactive protein in middle-aged men

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of moderate- to high-intensity resistance and concurrent training on inflammatory biomarkers and functional capacity in sedentary middle-aged healthy men. Participants were selected on a random basis for resistance training (n = 12), concurrent training (n = 11) and a control group (n = 13). They performed three weekly sessions for 16 weeks (resistance training: 10 exercises with 3 × 8-10 repetition maximum; concurrent training: 6 exercises with 3 × 8-10 repetition maximum, followed by 30 minutes of walking or running at 55-85% [Vdot]O(2peak)). Maximal strength was tested in bench press and leg press. The peak oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O(2peak)) was measured by an incremental exercise test. Tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein were determined. The upper- and lower-body maximal strength increase for both resistance (+42.52%; +20.9%, respectively) and concurrent training (+28.35%; +21.5%, respectively) groups (P = 0.0001).[Vdot]O(2peak) increased in concurrent training when comparing pre- and post-training (P = 0.0001; +15.6%). No differences were found in tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 for both groups after the exercise. C-reactive protein increased in resistance training (P = 0.004). These findings demonstrated that 16 weeks of moderate- to high-intensity training could improve functional capacity, but did not decrease inflammatory biomarkers in middle-aged men.     

The Profile of a Modern Filipino Librarian: An Examination of Perceived Competencies

ABSTRACT

This research created a profile of a modern LIS professional by discussing the competencies and skills essential in successfully conducting one's duties. Through a series of focus group discussions and interviews, the researcher identified essential competencies modern LIS professionals should possess. Aside from traditional skills such as cataloging and classification; indexing and abstracting; and library management, non-traditional competencies such as communication skills, advocacy skills, teaching skills, and technological skills were revealed to be vital competencies. These were identified and further supported by discussions of actual library work experiences. In the end, a profile was created it was concluded that a modern LIS professional should be pro-active; an effective communicator; well-informed; adaptable; and should advocate causes relevant to the practice of librarianship.     

Patología general de la evaluación educativa

Resumen

El autor plantea en este artículo los problemas que entrañan los procesos de la evaluación institucional educativa en sus diversos niveles (evaluación del alumno, de los Centros, de los programas y Reformas…) y desde diferentes perspectivas (ideológica, política, ética, didáctica, técnica…). Analiza diversas disfunciones y desenfoques de la evaluación escolar, tanto por atrofia como por hipertrofia de algunos de sus elementos, como por la desvirtuación de su práctica y de su significado.     

Waiting for the Tide to Change? Strategies for Survival of Portuguese Private HEIs

The topic of declining private higher education (PHE) has become a timely one, especially for many countries that had previously experienced a rapid and massive expansion of their systems of higher education, and of PHE in particular. In the case of Portugal this was very likely due to the stabilisation and then the slight decline in the number of applicants and the steady expansion of the public system Thus, the Portuguese system has become an interesting case study of the several types of strategies that may be adopted by PHE institutions when facing a declining student demand.