La figura del mediador intercultural a les institucions escolars catalanes: perfil real i ideal segons els propis actors

A Catalunya, en els darrers anys, han anat proliferant una sèrie de «professionals» que realitzen, amb més o menys adequació a la definició teòrica, la funció de mediadors inter-culturals. Primerament, es tractava de gitanos, però darrerament, fruit de l’increment de la presència d’infants d’origen immigrant a les escoles catalanes, s’ha vist créixer el nombre i el protagonisme dels estrangers pel reconeixement que se’ls ha donat des de l’Administració i des de les institucions. Els mediadors han intentat intervenir en qüestions com ara la participació dels pares d’origen minoritari, l’adaptació del currículum a la diversitat cultural, la negociació de conflictes culturals, la desescolarització, l’absentisme i l’abandonament escolar dels alumnes durant el període d’escolarització obligatòria, la traducció lingüística i la interpretació sociocultural, etc. Concretament, la nostra recerca ha consistit en vint-i-set entrevistes en profunditat a mediadors interculturals de tot Catalunya.

Factors explaining urban transport systems in large European cities: A cross-sectional approach

The paper analyses the link between human capital and regional economic growth in the European Union. Using different indicat The importance of effective and efficient mobility in large cities is becoming essential for planners and citizens due to its impact in terms of social, economic and geographic development. The aim of this research is to determine factors explaining urban transport systems by estimating aggregate supply and demand equations for 45 large European cities. Supply and Demand equations are separately and jointly determined using OLS and SUR estimation models. On one hand, our findings suggest the importance of economic variables on the supply of public transport. On the other, we highlight the role of those factors influencing the generalized cost of transport as main drivers of demand for public transit. Additionally, regional variables are introduced to capture institutional heterogeneity in this service, and we find that regional patterns are powerful explanatory determinants of urban transportation systems in Europe.

Institutional Determinants of Military Spending

Drawing on a database for 1988-2006 containing information on 157 countries, we investigate the effects on military spending of government form, electoral rules, concentration of parliamentary parties, and ideology. From an OLS regression on pooled data, our results show that presidential democracies spend more than parliamentary systems on defense, whereas the presence of a plurality voting system will reduce the defense burden. Our findings suggest that, in contrast to theoretical predictions in the literature, institutions do not have the same impact on the provision of all public goods. We present as well evidence regarding the effect of ideology on defense spending.

Psychometric Properties of the Personal Wellbeing Index in Brazilian and Chilean Adolescents Including Spirituality and Religion = Propriedades Psicométricas do Personal Wellbeing Index em Adolescentes Brasileiros e Chilenos Incluindo Espiritualidade e Religião

This study compared the 7-item Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) with two other versions which include the domains “Spirituality” and “Religion”, separately, in a sample of Brazilian (n = 1.047) and Chilean (n = 1.053) adolescents. A comparison of psychometric properties between the PWI versions was carried out through multigroup confi rmatory factor analysis showing adequate adjustments (CFI > .95, RMSEA < .08), whereas the item spirituality presented better performance. For the analysis of the differential contribution of each domain to the notion of global satisfaction, a regression on the item Overall Life Satisfaction (OLS) was applied using structural equations. It isrecommended the inclusion of the item spirituality in the original scale, considering the importance of such domain in both cultures