Science on the Periphery. The spanish Reception of Nuclear Energy: an Attempt at Modernity?

During the Cold War, Franco’s dictatorship attempted to use technological transfer and nuclear technology to strengthen the geopolitical influence of his Government in Spain. This paper studies this process, with particular reference to the role played by German scientists as advisers to the Spanish nuclear project.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on INEX

This special issue contains articles describing XML retrieval approaches developed and evaluated during the second year of INEX, the evaluation initiative for XML retrieval.     

Variability of inter-team distances associated with match events in elite-standard soccer

Abstract In soccer, critical match events like goal attempts can be preceded by periods of instability in the balance between the two teams' behaviours. Therefore, we determined periods of high variability in the distance between the teams' centroid positions longitudinally and laterally in an international-standard soccer match and evaluated corresponding match events. Position data were collected with AMISCO Pro?. Inter-team distance variability was calculated over a 3-s moving window. Out of the 242 match periods that exceeded the variability criterion, 51 were dead-ball situations. Match events identified through longitudinal inter-team distance primarily related to defending players moving forward-backward after a longitudinal pass. Match events identified through lateral inter-team distance mainly corresponded with defending players moving laterally following sideways passing. One of two goals and two of fourteen goal-attempts were preceded by a period of high variability. Together, periods of highly variable inter-team distance were associated with collective defensive actions and team reorganisation in dead-ball moments rather than goals or goal attempts. Inter-team dynamics quantified (mutual) reorganisation of the teams and marked teams' collective defensive ability to respond to attacking explorations.     

Generation of virtual models of cultural heritage

Different techniques and tools currently exist to generate three-dimensional models of small elements, buildings and cities. Apart from being easier to interpret than two-dimensional drawings, these models facilitate data necessary for reconstruction projects, preservation or rehabilitation of the architectural or archaeological heritage. Traditional surveying only enables us to obtain discrete information of the characteristic lines that define each surface, edge, slope change etc. whereas work with massive capture techniques allows us to obtain continuous points of the surfaces. Photogrammetry or laser scanning combined with conventional photography provides information of the building in addition to its geometry. We carried out a review of the different techniques showing the advantages and disadvantages of each technique as well as the information that can be obtained by applying these techniques to the survey of the great Gate of Antioch in the town of Aleppo, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, in Syria.     

Farmers’ reasons for changing or not changing to more sustainable practices: An exploratory study of arable farming in the Netherlands

Abstract

The paper describes the results of an exploratory study of farmers’ reasons for changing or not changing to more sustainable production methods in arable farming in the Netherlands. The background of the research is the disappointing adoption of Integrated Arable Farming Systems (iafs). Perceived production risk was expected to be an important factor constraining adoption. This study suggests, however, that perceived risk is not a satisfactory explanation. One reason is that iafs as it has become in Dutch practice cannot be easily distinguished from conventional arable farming systems. A continuum of gradual adoption of iafs methods, mainly for economic reasons, was observed. A real watershed difference was observed between partial adopters of iafs and organic farmers who used no chemicals at all. Secondly, dealing with production risks, such as weather‐dependent problems with weeds, pests and diseases, is considered part of professionalism of both conventional and iafs farmers and hence not a reason for avoiding a specific crop husbandry technique. However, uncertainties emanating from market conditions and environmental policy were found to be important considerations. JAgr Educ Ext (2001, 7, 3, pp 153–166)     

Emergent relations in pigeons following training with temporal samples

In two experiments, we investigated emergent conditional relations in pigeons using a symbolic matching-to-sample task with temporal stimuli as the samples and hues as the comparisons. Both experiments comprised three phases. In Phase I, pigeons learned to choose a red keylight (R) but not a green keylight (G) after a 1-s signal. They also learned to choose G but not R after a 4-s signal. In Phase II, correct responding consisted of choosing a blue keylight (B) after a 4-s signal and a yellow keylight (Y) after a 16-s signal. Comparisons G and B were both related to the same 4-s sample, whereas comparisons R and Y had no common sample. In Phase III, R and G were presented as samples, and B and Y were presented as the comparisons. The choice of B was correct following G, and the choice of Y was correct following R. If a relation between comparisons that shared a common sample were to emerge, then responding to B given G would be more likely than responding to Y given R. The results were generally consistent with this prediction, suggesting, for the first time in pigeons, the emergence of novel relations that involve temporal stimuli as nodal samples.     

Medios de comunicación telemática y educación

A partir de un análisis general de las relaciones entre los medios de comunicación y la escuela y del papel de los primeros en esta última, la autora presenta algunas alternativas y experiencias como el periódico electrónico o el teledebate. La aparición de nuevos y avanzados medios de comunicación en todo el mundo (como el periódico escolar electrónico), fruto de esta colaboración entre docentes y profesionales de la comunicación, ambos especialmente inquietos en sus profesiones, no sólo ayuda a cubrir el divorcio actualmente entre el contenido de la escuela y el contenido de la vida, sino que abre una de las más prometedoras y sugerentes vías de renovación, no sólo de la educación escolar, sino de la propia cultura de masas.     

Testing Inequality Constrained Hypotheses in SEM Models

Researchers often have expectations that can be expressed in the form of inequality constraints among the parameters of a structural equation model. It is currently not possible to test these so-called informative hypotheses in structural equation modeling software. We offer a solution to this problem using Mplus. The hypotheses are evaluated using plug-in p values with a calibrated alpha level. The method is introduced and its utility is illustrated by means of an example.     

Orthographic Learning During Oral and Silent Reading

This study examined orthographic learning in oral and silent reading conditions. Dutch third graders read, either aloud or silently, short texts containing novel target (pseudo) words. The acquisition of new word-specific orthographic knowledge was assessed several days later by comparing target spellings with homophonic spellings in tasks requiring orthographic choice, spelling, and naming. It was predicted that orthographic learning would be evident in both oral and silent conditions but stronger in the oral condition. As expected, orthographic learning was evident in both oral and silent conditions. This finding suggests that support for the self-teaching hypothesis of orthographic learning obtained in studies of unassisted oral reading can be generalized to the more common form of independent reading: silent reading. In addition, the results on the naming task provided some evidence for stronger orthographic learning during oral reading, but the two spelling tasks did not.