Public libraries embrace citizen science: Strengths and challenges

Can public libraries become hubs for citizen science? In line with the principles of citizen science, this question was answered collaboratively with librarians from the Barcelona Network of Public Libraries who performed two hands-on activities. One activity was a training course taken by 30 librarians from 24 different libraries which enabled them to envisage citizen science implementation at each library. The other activity consisted of co-creating a citizen social science project and involved 40 library users, seven librarians from three different cities, and professional scientists. The analysis considers the perspectives of both librarians and users, through participant observation, surveys, and a focus group to identify strengths and challenges. The overall results suggest that public libraries can offer leadership in the promotion of citizen science and contribute to the mission of public libraries to act as local community hubs. The main challenges identified were related to the complexity of collaboration, uncertainty regarding research co-creation, and participant retention strategies.     

Fear of Deportation in High School: Implications for Breaking the Circle of Silence Surrounding Migration Status

Long-term ethnographic data on the daily lives of undocumented students, their teachers, and administrators reveal the effects of fear of deportation (De Genova,?2002) on the routine of a high school. Thirty years after Plyler v. Doe guaranteed the educational rights of undocumented students, this study finds many factors contributing to the creation of a Circle of Silence around these students’ rights and access to schooling that threatens the educational opportunities of a significant population of immigrant students. The implications of this study reveal how schools can become a space to interrupt this vicious cycle through awareness, counseling, and advocacy.     

The influence of personality in determining farmer responsiveness to risk

Abstract

Rural landholders are undergoing extended economic hardship, manifested in a range of social and ecological problems that limit the capacity of local areas to recover to economic levels necessary to sustain settlement. The uncertain influence of climate on production represents just one of the range of risk factors that landholders must face. Survival depends on the capacity of landholders to respond strategically to the stress which these risk factors generate. Our research indicates landholders’ capacity to modify land‐management practices, are dictated by their underlying personality traits and by presence or absence of other psychiatric morbidity. Where stresses exist, the capacity of people to respond actively to a planned problem solution diminishes. The psychological profiles of people tend to fall into three groups ‐ those who can generally cope; those who can usually cope but undergo dysfunctional episodes under acute stresses, and those who generally cannot cope.

In the grazing lands of central western Queensland, our findings suggest a predominant personality profile consistent with an ability to cope with isolation and the other particular challenges that characterise this way of life. There are two important implications in these results. The first relates to land stewardship and has significant lessons for government intervention in terms of rural policy and approaches to extension. In particular, there are lessons pertinent to the success of Landcare and associated community based initiatives. The second relates to the broad area of rural health as highlighted by the alarming rates of suicide found in rural Australia. In previous decades, those with personality styles less well‐suited to this industry, found employment in nearby rural towns. This option has declined as government policy has favoured the withdrawal of services and resources, hastening depopulation of rural areas. The resultant weakening of the social fabric of rural society is a cause of tension and stress with serious health implications. Previous approaches to rural sociology have not emphasised individual personality traits in seeking to understand the complexity of the human‐environment relationships which determine land use. Nor has personality been invoked is assessing the potential of landholders to adopt ecologically sustainable practices. Further research is planned to consolidate our findings through comparative investigations in other branches of rural industry. JAgr Educ Ext (2001, 7, 3, pp 167–178)     

关于高职高专实施全面质量管理的探讨

本文论述了我国高职高专教育教学工作实施全面质量管理 (TQC)的意义 ,并对如何应用全面质量管理 ,提高高职高专教育教学工作水平进行了探讨     

Business and Higher Education Partner to Develop a High‐Skilled Workforce: A Case Study

The workforce development literature contains little scholarly work on how organizations in a community work together to develop a high‐skilled workforce. This exploratory case study examined business and higher education partnerships that were instrumental in creating such an educational infrastructure for information technology in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The findings from this case study provide insight into the chronology of key events and the leaders' characteristics and their interactions. Tulsa's IT workforce‐development infrastructure was negotiated one partnership at a time, bridging diverse interests, until a workforce‐development system emerged. The infrastructure grew as the result of accident, purposeful activity, serendipity, and negotiated processes and structures. The leaders' differing motivations and energy, their history of collaboration and mutual trust, and their different perspectives influenced the information technology workforce development infrastructure that developed. The insights into inter‐organization processes that resulted from the study can contribute to theory building in human performance technology and to our understanding of how to address gaps between desired and actual workforce performance at a community level.     

校企合作建设双师结构教师队伍的探索与实践

在高等职业教育发展过程中,建立一支专兼结合、理论功底与工程实践能力并重的师资队伍,是有效提升高素质技能人才培养质量的重要保障。全面介绍陕西工业职业技术学院在国家示范建设过程中,通过与企业深度合作,实施教师培养四项计划以及三年来在师资队伍建设方面进行了有益的探索与实践。     

12种凝集素受体在涎腺混合瘤及恶性混合瘤组织中的分布及意义

本文应用 ABC 免疫酶标记技术分析了51例正常涎腺及涎腺良恶性混合瘤中12种凝集素受体的分布。结果发现,ConA、PSA、PHA、RCA、UEA—I 受体在混合瘤及恶性混合瘤的良性组织中分布不同,推论部分恶性混合瘤为原发性恶性肿瘤。DBA 受体在恶性混合瘤组织中明显增多,提示 DBA 可能为恶性混合瘤的标记。这将有助于对涎腺肿瘤的发生、诊断及恶变机制的进一步研究。此结果如结合临床可为混合瘤的恶变、复发、诊断提供早于形态学改变的生化指标。