Basic qualitative analysis with QUALPRO

This paper examines a method for having preservice teachers engage in narrative inquiry with students in practicum schools. The inquiry entails: conducting a tape‐recorded interview with a student using a supplied, semistructured interview schedule; transcribing the interview; writing a narrative portrait of the student; and writing reflections. Theoretical rationales for the methods are presented as well as student teachers’ responses to the component parts of the assignment. What student teachers do and learn when they carry out this assignment was studied with reference to the work of 150 student teachers. The study clarified the ways in which the narrative inquiry supported a more self‐reflexive, connected, and friendly way of being with children or young people. In learning to relate to children, student teachers also learned how to teach. The assignment provided a contextualized and empowering way of taking up questions related to teaching and learning and of becoming critical inquirers about themes of oppression. Besides particular knowledge about children, themselves, and teaching, the student teachers also acquired a mode of inquiry for understanding new teaching situations.     

中国宏观经济与金融政策展望——巴曙松教授访谈

一、中国的宏观经济形势分析 本刊记者(以下简称记):巴老师,您好! 2010年中国经济增长呈现了"上窜下跳"的现象,您如何看待这一问题?2011年还会呈现类似的走势吗? 巴曙松教授(以下简称巴):2010年中国的经济周期确实呈现短期化特征,一季度偏热、二季度回落、三季度企稳、四季度偏强,2011年将进入一个相对温和的趋势性增长.     

How students perceive teachers’ nonverbal and verbal communication at agricultural universities in Austria,Slovenia and Albania

Purpose: This study attempts to close the research gap created by the fact that existing studies neglect the problem of how effectively agricultural professors from different European countries communicate. The aim is to identify similarities and differences in the numbers of agricultural professors perceived by students as engaging in verbal and nonverbal immediacy communication.

Methodology: An online survey was conducted among students of agricultural universities from Austria, Slovenia and Albania.

Findings: The results show that professors of agriculture from Austria, Slovenia and Albania should generally not be satisfied with their own communication patterns and should thus try to improve their communication. The result also reveals cultural differences in the shares of agriculture professors employing different communication patterns in Austria, Slovenia and Albania. Compared to Austrian and Slovenian students, their Albanian peers perceive that most of their professors use nonverbal immediacy communication. According to Austrian students, the majority of their professors use verbal immediacy. On the contrary, Albanian students assessed that some of their professors employ verbal immediacy.

Practical Implications: The results show the professors of agriculture should improve the way they communicate to students. In particular, the Albanian professors should improve their verbal communication especially in terms of providing timely and quality feedback to students.

Theoretical implications: The study reveals differences in immediacy communication among countries (Austria, Slovenia and Albania) which the scientific literature considers to have a high-context culture.

Originality/Value: Given that no study has yet examined how students perceive professors’ communication in different European countries, this research helps understand the characteristics of agricultural professors’ communication.     

静脉穿刺中血管的选择和保护

有目的的选择和保护静脉，是直接关系到能否保证长期输液和利用静脉进行治疗和抢救的重要环节。尤其在对危重和大面积烧伤病人的抢救治疗中，更要注意血管的选择和保护。通过25年的工作经验总结了以下认识和体会。     

近45年羊卓雍湖西部流域气候的变化特征初探

本文利用浪卡子站建站以来的年平均气温、降水量、蒸发量、最高气温、最低气温资料,运用统计方法来分析了近45年羊卓雍湖西部流域的年际和年代际变化。结果表明:近45年来,羊卓雍湖西部流域年平均气温、最高气温、最低气温呈显著的升高趋势,升幅分别为0.29℃/10a、0.1℃/10a、1.1℃/10a;年降水量表现为不显著的增加趋势,平均每10年增加3.8mm。     

Grading students' programming and soft skills with open badges: A case study

Well-developed programming (technical) skills are very important for software engineers, information systems engineers and programmers in general. However, they must also possess relevant personal skills (soft skills) to be successful at the workplace (eg, collaboration, solving real-world problems and communication). The latter, however, are rarely assessed and acknowledged in regular software engineering courses. This paper describes the results of a small case study involving an extracurricular Java programming course in which, in addition to knowledge and skills in relevant technologies, students' soft skills were also assessed. As part of the assessment, students have been awarded Open Badges. The study was exploratory in nature, aimed at examining Open Badges as a motivational mechanism, students' engagement in attaining soft skills and students' perception of soft skills and Open Badges. The results suggest that Open Badges may not be so effective in motivating students to complete the assignments nor attend the course, although students' perception of Open Badges is generally positive. Soft skills were generally perceived as important as hard skills. Students' engagement in attaining soft skills could be affected by assignment announcement time and its level of difficulty.     

Physiological responses in different intensities of resistance exercise – Critical load and the effects of aging process

Aim was to identify critical load (CL) in young and elderly apparently healthy male cohorts. To contrast the metabolic, cardiovascular and perceptual responses on CL according to age. We evaluated 12 young (23 ± 3 years) and 10 elderly (70 ± 2 years) apparently healthy active males, who underwent: (1) 1 repetition maximum (1RM) test on a 45° Leg Press; (2) on different days, three high-intensity resistance exercise constant load tests (60%, 75% and 90% 1RM) until fatigue (Tlim). Absolute values of both the CL asymptote and curvature constant (kg) were significantly lower in elderly subjects (P < 0.05). In contrast, elderly subjects demonstrated a significantly higher number of repetitions at CL when compared with young subjects (P < 0.05). As expected, oxygen uptake (VO₂) and heart rate (HR) during maximal aerobic exercise testing were significantly reduced in older subjects. However, percent-predicted aerobic capacity were higher in older subjects (P < 0.05). In addition, blood lactate ([La^?]) corrected to Tlim and rating of perceived exertion values were greater in younger subjects at all intensities (P < 0.05). These findings, despite reduced force production in older subjects, endurance-related parameters are well preserved according to age-adjusted percent-predicted values in apparently healthy males.     

Pore structure of historic and repair Roman cement mortars to establish their compatibility

Mercury porosimetry was applied to the study of pore structure of the historic Roman cement mortars representative of different locations in Europe and time periods as well as different application techniques from architectural castings to in situ formed renders and profiles. Three categories of pores were found to coexist in the mortars. The finest pores, with diameters below 0.1 μm, are present within the hardened aged Roman cement matrix. The larger ‘air’ pores, with diameters between 0.2–2 μm, are due to the evaporation of the excess unbound water and restricted hydration. Pores larger than 2 μm are rare and, in general, can be related to microcracking induced by shrinkage drying and mortar weathering. The mortars have rarely been found to develop a dense fine-porous microstructure characteristic of the ideal conditions of moist-curing; massive architectural castings being the only exception identified. The presence of larger ‘air’ pores was, in turn, almost universally observed. The investigations of the freshly prepared Roman cement mortars have revealed that the restricted hydration could be due to the exposure of the freshly laid surface to dry real-world external environments, a high water-to-cement ratio in the original mortars, or the drawing of water from the stucco mass due to insufficient pre-wetting of the porous masonry. The insufficient reactivity of historic cements, resulting from a high content of over-burned, non-reactive cement components or coarseness of the cement grains, could be another reason for yielding poorly hydrated mortars in the past. In general, Roman cement stuccoes are in an excellent state of preservation in spite of their usual exposure to polluted urban environments for more than a century. Therefore, the coexistence of Roman cement mortars of widely different pore structures has not brought about any problems of incompatibility which field observations could reveal. The Roman cement repair materials have been found to develop pore structures similar to those of historic mortars. Therefore, they are in broad terms compatible with historic masonry or stuccoes. However, the porosity and strength of the repair materials can be controlled by a careful manipulation of the water-to-cement ratio of the mix to adapt them better to the properties of the host material.