The Clientelistic Nature of Television Policies in Democratic Spain

This article uses a case study to contribute to the debate on media-political clientelism and its relation to the theory of media systems. It proposes a cross-disciplinary approach between the fields of communication and political sciences and thus analyzes four dimensions to observe the evolution of these practices in the area of television policies during Spanish democracy: license granting, television ownership regulation, politicization of the public service, and partisan news coverage. The period analyzed includes conservative and social democrat governments, trying to find differences in clientelistic practices among the different political parties. The analysis demonstrates how partisan relationships have evolved and what mechanisms have been put in place to maintain clientelistic ties.     

The Hungarica Program of the National Széchényi Library (Budapest,Hungary)

The author discusses the history and work of the program at the National Széchényi Library to find, document, and collect Hungarica—defined as published in Hungary, written in the Hungarian language, written by a Hungarian author, or written about Hungary or Hungarians—published in Hungary or outside of it. Today both domestically-published and foreign Hungarica are documented in the library's online catalog and in a database of humanities research in Hungarian studies.     

Stuck Behind the Curve: How the Academic Law Library Can Help Students Who Struggle in Law School

This article examines how academic law libraries can assist law schools in meeting the needs of students who struggle in law school. This article will describe the types of programs currently available to help struggling students within law schools, including academic support programs, and offer suggestions to improve the delivery of services to this growing population.     

Why Do Historical Beeswax Seals Become Brittle Over Time?

ABSTRACT

Mechanical properties of aged beeswax were studied by an indirect measurement, using hydrogenated beeswax as a model material. The adequacy of the model was evaluated by comparison of its chemical composition and thermal properties with those of samples of historical beeswax. It was found that the gradual decrease in content of unsaturated compounds in beeswax contributes significantly to changes of its mechanical properties. As a consequence, beeswax artefacts become increasingly prone to mechanical damage during natural ageing. Understanding the difference between mechanical properties of recent and historical beeswax is primarily important from the point of view of safe handling and storage of such artefacts. Besides, this knowledge could help conservation scientists, e. g. when preparing model samples for testing new conservation methods.     

International University Education: An Australian Perspective

This paper attempts to explore the effectiveness of UK universities' websites. The area of branding in higher education has received increasing academic investigation, but little work has researched how universities demonstrate their brand promises through their websites. The quest to differentiate through branding can be challenging in the university context, however. It is argued that those institutions that have a strong distinctive image will be in a better position to face a changing future. Employing a multistage methodology, the web pages of 20 UK universities were investigated by using a combination of content and multivariable analysis. Results indicated ‘traditional values’ such as teaching and research were often well communicated in terms of online brand but ‘emotional values’ like social responsibility and the universities' environments were less consistently communicated, despite their increased topicality. It is therefore suggested that emotional values may offer a basis for possible future online differentiation.     

UK higher education viewed through the marketization and marketing lenses

This paper uses the Economic Market mechanisms and the 4P Marketing Mix as lenses to review the context of UK higher education (HE) and to explore the relationship between the market and marketing disciplines and practice. Four Economic Market mechanisms – autonomy, competition, price and information – are contrasted with the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place and promotion. This paper demonstrates how market forces influence HE institutions and, in contrast, how HE institutions shape the environment via marketing practice. Knowing how one discipline relates to another is crucial for those who strive to understand the context of HE.     

Steps towards inclusion in Hungary

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a rhythmic gymnastics programme on the dynamic balance ability of a group of children with deafness. The sample consisted of 29 children with deafness. The subjects met the same criteria in terms of age, aetiology, hearing level, intelligence, school placement and socioeconomic status, and in this way, they were assigned to two groups of 12 and 17 children, for the control and experimental groups respectively. The experimental group received a 16-week rhythmic gymnastic programme at a frequency of three lessons per week, for 40 minutes, whereas the control group adhered to its regular school routine. The methods of data collection included pre-/post-test measurements of the dynamic balance for all participants of both groups. The dynamic balance ability was measured by means of a balance deck (Lafayette) in duration of 30, 45 and 60 s intervals. The findings of this study provide evidence that the specific rhythmic gymnastic programme facilitates significant improvement in the dynamic balance ability of this sample of children with deafness.     

Mathematical thinking intervention programmes for preschool children with normal and low number sense

This study investigated the possibility of enhancing the level of preschoolers’ number sense by introducing two intervention programmes, Let’s think! and Young children with special educational needs count, too! .Forty‐five preschoolers, mean age 66.4 months, were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received instruction twice a week, for half an hour, and for a period of nine months. Pretest–postest comparison revealed that the experimental group showed enhanced number‐sense performance immediately after the instruction ended, but the between‐group difference faded after six months. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in general mathematical thinking abilities (transfer tasks) after the intervention.     

Second Chance Programmes: a response to educational needs in compulsory education

This paper asks whether the integrated training provision currently offered through the different Spanish Second Chance Programmes (SCPs) constitutes a valid response to the educational needs and deficits known to exist among those young people who do not satisfactorily complete the Compulsory Secondary Education stage (ESO). The objectives of the current Social Guarantee Programmes (SGPs) are examined, as are the characteristics of the young people who participate in them. The Programmes of Initial Vocational Qualification (PCPI) envisaged in the most recent educational legislation are also discussed. Having identified the key factors which the empirical studies suggest influence the effectiveness of these programmes in addressing the educational needs and training deficiencies of the young people involved, a number of proposals are presented in connection with the training needs of teaching staff. The paper concludes with a number of proposals for improving the educational response to the challenges that the new perspectives and expectations raise for the development of a system of inclusive education to overcome the education deficits of the young people concerned.     

Spanish Secondary-School Science Teachers’ Beliefs About Science-Technology-Society (STS) Issues

This study analyzes the beliefs about science-technology-society, and other Nature of Science (NOS) themes, of a large sample (613) of Spanish pre- and in-service secondary education teachers through their responses to 30 items of the Questionnaire of Opinions on Science, Technology and Society. The data were processed by means of a multiple response model to generate the belief indices used as the bases for subsequent quantitative and qualitative analyses. Other studies have reported a negative profile of teachers’ understanding in this area, but the diagnosis emerging from the present work is more complex. There was a mix of appropriate beliefs coexisting with others that are inappropriate on the topics analyzed. The overall assessment, however, is negative since clearly teachers need to have a better understanding of these questions. There were scant differences between the pre- and in-service teachers, and hence no decisive evidence that the practice of teaching contributes to improving the in-service teachers’ understanding. These results suggest there is an urgent need to bring the initial and continuing education of science teachers up to date to improve their understanding of these topics of science curricula, and thus improve the teaching of science.