Regulation as both enabler of technology use and global competitive tool: The Gibraltar case

Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) such as Blockchain appear to have disruptive economic potential to traditional finance-sector and non-financial markets as the success of crypto currencies demonstrates. While traditional financial and securities markets are highly regulated, DLT transactions and exchanges have so far widely remained unregulated, which potentially poses major threats to individual investors and, via money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion, to society at large. Governments have been taking different approaches to monitoring and regulating the fledgling DLT provision arena. However, the small jurisdiction of Gibraltar, an affluent self-governed and self-financed British overseas territory with a population of 34,000 at the Southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula has taken a proactive approach. What makes this case stand out is that Gibraltar is not only is the first jurisdiction worldwide to regulate general DLT provision, but it is rather using the regulation as a competitive tool and a means for creating new public value. The study inquires the potential benefits and challenges to this particular approach to DLT provision regulation, and it investigates and presents the various facets of public value generation, which might serve as a poster child for fast and smart regulation in the digital age.     

Plant cell cultures—a future source of natural products?

Plant cell cultures are a potential source of commercially important compounds, but although technical problems seem to be relatively easy to solve there are several biological hurdles still to be overcome. An analysis of the state of the art shows that a breakthrough can be expected only if research is intensified on unravelling the regulatory controls in the biosynthesis of natural products. The knowledge gained might then be used to manipulate the expression of secondary metabolism by the techniques of genetic engineering.     

Revisiting the Role of Worries in Explaining the Link Between Test Anxiety and Test Performance

Educational Psychology Review - The inverse relationship between test anxiety and test performance is commonly explained by test-anxious students’ tendency to worry about a test and the...     

Antecedents of the Initiation of Watching Sexually Explicit Internet Material: A Longitudinal Study Among Adolescents

Little research to date has focused on adolescents’ initiation of watching sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) and its antecedents. Based on 400 adolescents who had never watched SEIM at baseline (in a three-wave panel study among 1,467 13–17-year-old Dutch adolescents), we examined antecedents of the initiation of watching SEIM one year later. Logistic regression analyses indicated that boys were more likely to start watching SEIM than girls. A hypergender identity increased the likelihood to initiate watching SEIM among girls, whereas frequent exposure to the sexy self-presentation of others in social media especially increased boys’ chance of watching SEIM. An interaction effect between sexual experience and age was also found.     

Medium-based design: Extending a medium to create an exploratory learning environment

This article introduces medium-based design – an approach to creating exploratory learning environments using the method of extending a medium. First, the characteristics of exploratory learning environments and medium-based design are described and grounded in related work. Particular attention is given to extending a medium – medium-based design's core method. Then, the product and process of two environments are detailed to show how medium-based design enables the creation of exploratory learning environments. Finally, a study compares medium-based design to a conventional design process to test the hypothesis that medium-based design is particularly effective in creating exploratory learning environments.     

Dealing with complex and ill-structured problems: results of a Plan-Do-Check-Act experiment in a business engineering semester

Challenged by increased globalisation and fast technological development, we carried out an experiment in the third semester of a global business engineering programme aimed at identifying conditions for training student in dealing with complex and ill-structured problems of forming a new business. As this includes a fuzzy front end, learning cannot be measured in traditional, quantitative terms; therefore, we have explored the use of reflection to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. The experiment adopted a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach and concluded with developing a plan for new learning initiatives in the subsequent year’s semester. The findings conclude that (1) problem-based learning develops more competencies than ordinarily measured at the examination, especially, the social/communication and personal competencies are developed; (2) students are capable of dealing with a complex and ambiguous problem, if properly guided. Four conditions were identified; (3) most students are not conscious of their learning, but are able to reflect if properly encouraged; and (4) improving engineering education should be considered as an organisational learning process.     

Software for calculating blood lactate endurance markers

Abstract

Blood lactate markers are used as summary measures of the underlying model of an athlete's blood lactate response to increasing work rate. Exercise physiologists use these endurance markers, typically corresponding to a work rate in the region of high curvature in the lactate curve, to predict and compare endurance ability. A short theoretical background of the commonly used markers is given and algorithms provided for their calculation. To date, no free software exists that allows the sports scientist to calculate these markers. In this paper, software is introduced for precisely this purpose that will calculate a variety of lactate markers for an individual athlete, an athlete at different instants (e.g. across a season), and simultaneously for a squad.     

Stellen Hochschultypen differenzielle Entwicklungsmilieus dar?

The German higher education system has three different types of universities. This study aims to investigate the effect of choosing one particular university type on central personality traits (vocational interests, vocational motives and the Big Five). Existing results clearly show that the individual types of universities recruit students with different backgrounds. Whether differential development during and after studies is determined by university type (i.e. socialization effects in a broader sense) or whether it denotes a consequence of pre-existing differences among students of the university types will, for the first time, be examined using propensity-score matching. To do this, data of a large longitudinal study in Baden-Wuerttemberg were used in order to compare 1568 students at traditional universities (Universit?ten), universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen), and universities of cooperative education (Berufsakademien) in their second, fourth and sixth year after university entrance examination. Socialisation effects were tested in propensity-score based parallelised sub-samples (N?=?622). Results show that differences between university types can mainly be explained with selection effects and that the effects of attendance at the university types itself were hardly differential.     

Vergleichsarbeiten in Baden-Württemberg

Standard comparative tests are meant to provide a reference system within the framework of educational reforms for development of school lessons. Compulsory comparative testing was introduced in Baden-Württemberg at the end of the school year 2005/2006. The teachers carried out the tests and corrected them themselves. Afterwards they received feedback at school and class levels, which was based on a prior statewide pilot study. The repeated survey had the aim of investigating which intended effects (reference attainment for orientation) and non-intended effects (narrowing-the-curriculum, pre-testing and exercises) teachers associated with this new instrument. Teachers of technical secondary schools (Realschulen) in Baden-Württemberg were surveyed. In the survey before the introduction of standard comparative testing (2004; n _{t 1}?=?914), teachers expected both intended and non-intended effects. Four years after their introduction (2009; n _{t 1}?=?734), respondents were asked to estimate the effects of standard comparative tests. The effects??in every dimension??were judged to be significantly less than had been expected before their introduction. It is pleasing that the teachers did not judge the anticipated narrowing-the-curriculum effects to be significant. However, they also did not see the instrument as a noteworthy orientation help for planning and assessing lessons. Standard comparative tests were not seen by the respondents to provide a reference for new lesson developments.     

Process integration,information sharing,and system interoperation in government: A comparative case analysis

In recent years, government agencies on all levels and in all branches have increasingly engaged in harmonizing business processes, standardizing information sharing, and interoperating their information systems, which indicates a rising need for intra- and inter-government collaboration. Simultaneously, the technical capacity for process integration, information sharing, and system interoperation/interoperability (INT-IS-IOP) has also greatly increased. While a number of INT-IS-IOP projects have faced serious challenges leading to problematic project outcomes, other projects have produced the desired results. Using the amended Scholl/Klischewski (2007) framework this study systematically analyzes documents of nineteen cases of mostly successful projects, which were carried out across Europe. Based on the results of this analysis, we identify and document key foci and characteristics of successful projects. The comparative case analysis also helps assess the explanatory power of the Scholl/Klischewski framework, its applicability to practice, and its utility for evaluative purposes.