Technical communication from 1850–1950: Where have we been?

As the discipline of technical communication undergoes increasing scrutiny by scholars and teachers and as the discipline continues to evolve with advancements in technology, we should pause to consider some foundational, historical issues that led to the formation of a technical communication pedagogy in the first place. This piece evaluates shifts in an engineering curriculum from roughly 1850 to 1960 that made possible the development of a technical communication curriculum.     

Changing knowledge and the academic profession in Portugal

The paper analyses the Portuguese academics' perceptions about changes in their research activities and modes of knowledge production. Quantitative data gathered from an on‐line national survey have been used to develop this analysis. Results reveal that the majority of academics declared that they were not involved in knowledge and technology transfer and that their research activities were not influenced by external sponsors or clients. However, they did recognise that were strong external pressures to reconfigure the epistemologies, ontologies and the institutional conditions under which knowledge is produced. The data analysis also reveals that academics recognise forms of hybridism between autonomy and endogenous dynamics and heteronomy and exogenous dynamics in the development of their research activities and knowledge production.     

再见,莫亚

两个月以来,莫亚第一次打开自己的邮箱,他轻轻眯起了眼睛：＂哦……3,000多封……不过,我现在有时间。＂     

冠军加工厂

过去的2010赛季,西班牙网球取得了历史性的突破。这不仅因为纳达尔的强势表现,更具意义的是,在美网,这块被世人认为西班牙球员最不可能获得好成绩的球场,同时有六名西班牙选手闯入了男单十六强,这也追平了同一国家选手晋级大满贯四分之一决赛人数最多的记录,上一次出现这样的盛况还要追溯到1969年的美国和澳大利亚。在2010年ATP年终排名中,Top50出现了10个西班牙人,而此前在美网,罗布雷多还大胆预言,这样极具统治力的局面至少还会维持十年。     

Differential thermal expansion as a cause of salt decay: literature review,experiments, and modelling of micro and macro effects on Ançã limestone

Salt decay is one of the harshest, most frequent, and more complex types of decay of porous materials in built heritage, including natural stones, ceramics, and mortars. In this article, we address the mechanism of thermal expansion, which is one of the least studied, yet most controversial, of those proposed over time to explain salt decay. We present a review of scientific literature on the topic, followed by a study of the effects of thermal expansion on a specific material, the well-known Ançã limestone. The study included experimental measurement of the linear thermal expansion coefficient of the Ançã, both in its natural state and with varying contents of sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, or sodium nitrate. The results show that this coefficient: (i) is significantly higher when the stone is contaminated with salt; and (ii) scales approximately with the amount of salt contained in the stone pores, regardless of the type of salt. Based on these results and on modelling of damage modes at the microscopic and macroscopic levels, respectively, we conclude that thermal expansion can cause powdering, disaggregation, or other types of decay consisting of internal loss of cohesion. However, it is not likely to cause exfoliation of salt-loaded layers.     

“You can't play marbles—you have a wooden hand”: Communication with the handicapped 1

The influence of being in a mainstreamed class on nonhandicapped children's abilities to communicate with the handicapped was investigated in this two‐year study. The results indicate that both nonhandicapped and handicapped children have difficulty communicating with handicapped peers. Being in a mainstreamed class has no impact on the nonhandicapped children. No differences were discovered between children studied at the conclusion of the first or second years of the mainstreaming program.     

Evaluating STAR – a transformative learning framework: interdisciplinary action research in health training

Transformative learning aims to awaken students to issues of injustice, and to promote their critical analysis of assumptions, beliefs and values that lead to and sustain social inequities, so that they may become agents of social change. This paper introduces the Sensitise Take Action and Reflection (STAR) framework, which encapsulates transformative learning principles, as a tool for educators to enhance student health professionals’ capacity and preparedness to address health inequities they are likely to encounter in their future practice. Using an action research methodology within a three-cycle process, STAR was trialled and evaluated by an interdisciplinary team of health educators (n = 25) in an Australian university. Disciplines included: nursing, nutrition and dietetics, public health, occupational therapy and paramedic science. Data were gathered via individual interviews, focus group discussions and field notes, and were analysed inductively, with member-checking of emerging themes to ensure interpretive rigour. The results of this research suggest that STAR is easily understood by users, has relevance for health professional education, and holds promise for producing desired educational outcomes within and across health disciplines. Furthermore, this project could be considered a model for fostering inter-professional collaboration in health education, research and practice.     

Teachers’ Perspectives on the Human-Nature Relationship: Implications for Environmental Education

This study based on a theoretical framework of three main environmental perspectives in the human-nature relationship (anthropocentrism, biocentrism and ecocentrism), aimed to identify their incidence in teachers involved with environmental projects when confronted with diverse environmental issues. 60 teachers drawn from four school cycles in Portugal (crèche; 1st cycle, 6–9 years old; 2nd cycle, 10–11 years old; 3rd cycle and Secondary school, 12–17 years old) were interviewed and divided into two groups: generalist teachers (crèche and 1st cycle) and specialists in different subjects (2nd and 3rd cycles and secondary). The results showed a higher occurrence of biocentric perceptions in all teachers (more significantly in those from the 1st group). Comparatively, the teachers from the 2nd group showed more ecocentric perceptions. These differences can be explained by the models of teacher education (initial and inservice) and by the influence of the specific characteristics of the cycles in question. In contrast, the teachers' environmental projects were mostly centred on sustainable use of resources, which inevitably favours anthropocentric arguments. The results allow us to conclude that different environmental approaches are possible, especially if teachers are aware of the importance of dealing with more controversial environmental issues.