Are we using Friedman's roadmap? A comparative analysis of stimuli of private school enrolments in post-Soviet countries

There have been extensive scholarly debates on the role the private sector in the provision of schooling across the world. The former Soviet states have been largely excluded from these debates. This exploratory study examines the role the private sector in the formal provision of primary and secondary education in post-Soviet countries to demonstrate comparative trends and to provide a framework for the analysis of stimuli for private enrolments in the region. On the basis of the analysis of secondary data, documentary evidence and relevant literature, this paper shows that across the former Soviet countries, neoliberal ideas of education marketisation have not found fertile soil for development.     

圣徒、家长、新乡绅:中国当代文学村干部形象考察

20世纪50年代至新世纪的小说文本映现了乡村革命、建设的复杂嬗变,村干部从圣徒殉道到家长治村再到新乡绅致富,乃至今天的村霸、村官下派、大学生村官,广袤土地上亦民亦干的人物系谱是中国当代文学的独特贡献;成为中国社会变迁的表意结构,成为确证中国革命、社会历史变迁的知识框架、认识装置,并与后者形成内在呼应,彰显革命的曲折道路。     

Sustainability transitions: A political coalition perspective

In the case of technology transitions to low-carbon sources of energy, there is growing evidence that even in countries with a strong political consensus in favor of a transition, the pace has been slow in comparison with the need to reduce greenhouse gases. One factor that affects the slowness of the transition is political resistance from the incumbent industrial regime. Using data on the mobilization of resistance from the fossil-fuel industry in the United States, the study builds on the growing literature on the political dimensions of sustainability transitions by drawing attention to the role of incumbent regime coalitions, grassroots coalitions in support of green transition policies, and countervailing industrial power. Case studies of political coalitions for ballot propositions in the U.S. are used to show how countervailing industrial power, especially from the technology and financial sector, can tip the balance of electoral spending in favor of grassroots organizations.     

Teacher's Life Worlds,Agency and Policy Contexts

Life history studies of teachers have remained a sadly neglected genre and have only recently become strongly developed in many countries. In 2000, the authors began a collaboration to develop life and work history research with a group of teachers who, 40 years earlier, had been pioneers of the Swedish 9-year compulsory school reform. The present paper describes interesting differences between British and Swedish research and school policy raises questions about the professional development of teachers in contexts of increasing marketisation of public service. The study connects directly to Michael Huberman's life cycle work and emphasises a close and egalitarian collaboration between the researchers and the teachers in the scholarly process.     

Stages and Transitions of Relational Identity Formation in Intercultural Friendship: Implications for Identity Management Theory

Abstract

In light of identity management theory (IMT), this research seeks to uncover the stages and transitions that explain the process of relational identity formation within intercultural friendships. Three stages (i.e., initial encounter, interaction, and involvement) and two transition phases emerged within the intercultural friendships of this research. This study concludes that while IMT contributes to our understanding of the process of intercultural relationship formation, it overlooks how intercultural relationships transition from one stage to another and the influences of networks and a third cultural context.     

Two worlds,one site: leading practices and transitions to school

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an account of a cross-sectorial study investigating whether shared understandings of practices might enhance continuity during transitions to school. Applying an ontological lens to cross-sectorial leading practices, the paper sheds light on the contextualised realities of transitions to school as a site specific lived experience. The paper begins with an overview of the ways transitions to school practices are understood, including emerging perspectives of transitions as continuity practices. Then, cross-sectorial concepts of leadership and leading are presented to highlight fundamental differences in the ways these practices are enacted across the sectors. The paper presents empirical evidence of the ways leading practices can work to establish shared understandings of transitions to school practices and policies. Given ‘little research has been done on the direct effects of leadership on transitions’ (OECD. [2017]. Starting Strong V: Transitions from Early Childhood Education and Care to Primary School. Paris: OECD Publications, 95) the paper contributes to emerging discourses that construct transitions to school as continuities.     

Exercise does not necessarily influence the phase of the circadian rhythm in temperature in healthy humans

Seventeen healthy adults exercised for 30 min (70% V O 2max ), at different times of the day and night throughout a 24 h period. The effect on the phase of core temperature rhythm was assessed by comparing the rhythms on the day immediately before and immediately after the day of exercise with the participants living normally on these 2 days. Assessments were made upon data that had been corrected for the thermogenic effects of sleep and activity. When exercise was performed in the period between 4 h before and 1 h after the temperature minimum, there was a phase delay of 1.03 - 0.78 h (mean - s ; n = 6); when performed between 3 and 8 h after the temperature minimum, there was a phase advance of 1.07 - 1.23 h ( n = 9). Both means were significantly different from zero (Student's one-sample t -tests: P ? 0.05). Performed at other times, exercise had no significant effect on the phase of the temperature rhythm. The phase changes were not significantly different from those previously observed by us in sedentary individuals exposed to domestic lighting. We conclude that the amount of physical activity has very little effect on the body clock.     

Post-Soviet science: Difficulties in the transformation of the R&D systems in Russia and Ukraine

In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union was among the foremost leaders of world science, thanks in large part to its heavy involvement in military programmes. The USSR developed a large research infrastructure but it lacked effective mechanisms for the commercialization of research results. The main aim of the transformation of R&D systems in the post-Soviet states in the 1990s and early 2000s was the re-orientation of scientific activities away from military and towards civilian goals. Analysis of statistical data at the macro-level suggests that this attempt was not particularly successful. Indeed, most newly independent states could not even preserve a ‘critical mass’ of scientific activities in order to remain among the list of significant producers of research results. In the post-Soviet countries (and in this paper we focus on Russia and Ukraine as the largest states of the region), inputs from the R&D system have failed to generate wealth-creating outputs because of a systemic inability to use the resources for generating commercially viable results effectively. All post-Soviet countries, including Russia and Ukraine, urgently need not only a major transformation within the R&D system, but also important changes in the wider ‘environment’. It is important to stress that, in recent years, changes in R&D have been determined not only by the general economic situation itself but also by the general policy of the post-Soviet states. While Russia has expressed ambitions to regain its former influence as a great power and to use S&T to achieve this goal, Ukraine has no clearly determined objectives for the development of its national science system. However, both countries face certain common problems. The development of relevant institutes and the stimulation of demand for R&D results from the side of industry, broader involvement in the international division of scientific work, and the introduction of adequate legal protection for intellectual property rights are all of critical importance for S&T institutes and other research organizations in Russia and Ukraine. This paper shows that the reforms in the R&D sector have been relatively modest and rather unsystematic over the last one and a half decades. The key challenges, which relate to the inertia and the negative aspects of the previous period (for example, a extremely low level of replacement of aging manpower, largely outdated scientific equipment in research laboratories, and institutional mechanisms that are not relevant to the market economy), pose serious problems for the transformation of the R&D systems in both countries, despite new possibilities and a willingness to increase financial support for R&D.     

新型纳米光催化材料的研究进展

本文阐述了纳米光催化剂半导体的基本原理及光催化材料体系的研究进展;并从光催化材料体系的氧化物、氮化物以及磷化物产生光生电子-空穴对的环境和抑制光生电子-空穴对的复合出发,提出了提高光催化材料性能的几种途径:过渡金属掺杂和非金属掺杂、半导体复合、表面负载、表面光敏、贵金属沉积、外场耦合等.     

Knowledge Gaps and Rural Development in Tajikistan: Agricultural Advisory Services as a Panacea?

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse knowledge systems and channels of innovation diffusion in Tajikistan. In particular, I look at the formation of agricultural advisory services (AASs) and how these provide a vital source of knowledge and innovation for farmers during the transition process.

Methodology: Empirically, this paper draws on qualitative, ethnographic research in the agricultural sector of Tajikistan, that is, semi-structured and in-depth interviews with agricultural experts, and a ‘farm diary’ that provided data on farmers’ perspectives regarding access to knowledge and expertise.

Findings: Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Tajikistan, knowledge available to farmers can be described as a mix of traces and fragments originating from the Soviet agricultural and educational system represented by universities, research institutes and academies of science, on the one hand, and Western-style knowledge, mainly introduced by development agencies, on the other. Donors are relatively new actors in the field of knowledge dissemination, but they are nevertheless very important ones. Under the ‘development’ framework, that is, rhetorical, organisational and infrastructural development, different donors play their own parts, some of them geo-political. At the same time they provide support for the functioning of local non-governmental organisations and help to maintain them accordingly, and they are also used by Tajik political actors for their own purposes.

Practical implications: From this discussion, practical suggestions are made on how AASs could be organised in Tajikistan, namely on existing assets, traditions and networks, thus reflecting the interplay between the main actors and local needs.