Marketing education, distance learning and hypermedia : teaching 'current issues in marketing' in a virtual campus

This article reports on a project at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC: The Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona) to develop an innovative package of hypermedia-based learning materials for a new course entitled 'Current Issues in Marketing'. The UOC is a distance university entirely based on a virtual campus. The learning materials project was undertaken in order to benefit from the advantages which new communication technologies offer to the teaching of marketing in distance education. The article reviews the main issues involved in incorporating new technologies in learning materials, the development of the learning materials, and their functioning within the hypermedia based virtual campus of the UOC. An empirical study is then carried out in order to evaluate the attitudes of students to the project. Finally, suggestions for improving similar projects in the future are put forward.

Un estudio transversal sobre la percepción de la vitalidad etnolingüística en jóvenes y adultos de Catalunya = A cross-sectional study on ethnolinguistic vitality perception in young and adulthood people from Catalonia

El estudio utiliza un diseño transversal en el campo de la percepción de la vitalidad etnolingüística. Es el primero que compara la percepción de la vitalidad etnolingüística, así como los factores asociados, entre adultos jóvenes y adultos, en relación con los grupos castellanohablantes y catalanohablantes de la Comunidad Autónoma de Cataluña. Para ello, se aplicó el 'Cuestionario de vitalidad etnolingüística subjetiva' (CVS) a una muestra de 527 participantes, 268 jóvenes y 259 adultos, de los cuales se seleccionó una submuestra de individuos que tenían el catalán como lengua materna y se identificaban como catalanes (n=301). En ambas muestras se aduce una tendencia a descriminar favorablemente la vitalidad percibida por el grupo catalán, aspecto que se acentúa significativa en el grupo de jóvenes estudiados en relación al grupo de edad de los adultos. Se discuten los resultados según las repercusiones teóricas y pragmáticas de los estudios realizados en el ámbito de la comunicación intergrupal

Early Childhood Mathematics Education: Research, Curriculum and Educational Practice

This article reviews data obtained through research into early childhood mathematics education in Spain. It analyses the current curricular directions in mathematics education with early learners. It also provides an overview of mathematical practices in early childhood education classrooms to analyse the commonalities and differences between research, curriculum and educational practice. A review of the research presented at SEIEM symposia from 1997 until 2012 demonstrates: a) very little research has been done, a trend that is repeated in other areas, such as the JCR-Social Sciences Edition or the PME; b) the first steps have been taken to create a more and more cohesive body of research, although until now there has not been enough data to outline the curricular directions; and c) some discrepancies still exist between the mathematical practices in early childhood education classrooms and the official guidelines

Repensando la formación inicial del profesorado para abordar el tratamiento a la diversidad cultural y lingüística en el aula = Rethinking initial teacher education for linguistic and cvltural diversity in the classroom

In recent decades, European educational systems are facing many challenges related to the treatment of cultural and linguistic diversity. The need to address this diversity requires new approaches to education; this in turn requires changes in the way we prepare teachers for the new reality they face in their classrooms. In this article we highlight some of the major problems that initial teacher training has to address in order to enable teachers to deal effectively, respectfully, and fairly with students whose linguistic and cultural background is different from their own. We also present several models for teacher education from Europe and North America based on clearly identified teacher competences for linguistic and cultural diversity

Levels of C-reactive protein in serum samples from healthy children and adults in São Paulo, Brazil

C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured by ELISA in the sera of 165 healthy blood donors and 125 normal children 1 to 14 years old. The serum levels of blood donors ranged from 0.05 to 57.6 mg/l with median and mean values of 1.8 mg/l and 4.86 mg/l, respectively. CRP levels ranged from 0.02 to 14.4 mg/l in the children's sera, the median being 0.45 mg/l and the mean 1.65 mg/l. No individual lacking CRP was detected. The high CRP levels observed in the present study suggest that the population of the State of São Paulo may usually be exposed to subacute infections and/or inflammation without presenting clinical symptoms

Entrepreneurship Education in Basic and Upper Secondary Education – Measurement and Empirical Evidence

The starting point of this study is to direct more attention to the teacher and those entrepreneurship education practices taking place in formal school to find out solutions for more effective promotion of entrepreneurship education. For this objective, the strategy-level aims of entrepreneurship education need to be operationalised into measurable and understandable teacher-level practices. Furthermore, to enable the effective development of entrepreneurship education in basic and upper secondary level education, more knowledge is needed of the state of affairs of entrepreneurship education in teaching. The purpose of the study is to increase the level of understanding of teachers’ entrepreneurship education practices, and through this to develop entrepreneurship education. This study builds on the literature on entrepreneurship education and especially those elements referring to the aims, resources, benefits, methods, and practises of entrepreneurship education. The study comprises five articles highlighting teachers’ role in entrepreneurship education. In the first article the concept of entrepreneurship and the teachers role in reflection upon his/hers approaches to entrepreneurship education are considered. The second article provides a detailed analysis of the process of developing a measurement tool to depict the teachers’ activities in entrepreneurship education. The next three articles highlight the teachers’ role in directing the entrepreneurship education in basic and upper secondary level education. Furthermore, they analyse the relationship between the entrepreneurship education practises and the teachers’ background characteristics. The results of the study suggest a wide range of conclusions and implications. First, in spite of many outspoken aims connected to entrepreneurship education, teachers have not set any aims for themselves. Additionally, aims and results seem to mix. However, it is possible to develop teachers’ target orientation by supporting their reflection skills, and through measurement and evaluation increase their understanding of their own practices. Second, applying a participatory action process it is possible to operationalise teachers’entrepreneurship education practices. It is central to include the practitioners’ perspective in the development of measures to make sure that the concepts and aims of entrepreneurship education are understood. Third, teachers’ demographic or tenure-related background characteristics do not affect their entrepreneurship education practices, but their training related to entrepreneurship education, participation in different school-level or regional planning, and their own capabilities support entrepreneurship education. Fourth, a large number of methods are applied to entrepreneurship education, and the most often used methods were different kinds of discussions, which seem to be an easy, low-threshold way for teachers to include entrepreneurship education regularly in their teaching. Field trips to business enterprises or inviting entrepreneurs to present their work in schools are used fairly seldom. Interestingly, visits outside the school are more common than visitors invited to the school. In line, most of the entrepreneurship education practices take place in a classroom. Therefore it seems to be useful to create and encourage teachers towards more in-depth cooperation with companies (e.g. via joint projects) and to network systematically. Finally, there are plenty of resources available for entrepreneurship education, such as ready-made materials, external stakeholders, support organisations, and learning games, but teachers have utilized them only marginally.

Effects of aerobic exercise training on heart rate variability during wakefulness and sleep and cardiorespiratory responses of young and middle-aged healthy men

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of aerobic physical training (APT) on heart rate variability (HRV) and cardiorespiratory responses at peak condition and ventilatory anaerobic threshold. Ten young (Y: median = 21 years) and seven middle-aged (MA = 53 years) healthy sedentary men were studied. Dynamic exercise tests were performed on a cycloergometer using a continuous ramp protocol (12 to 20 W/min) until exhaustion. A dynamic 24-h electrocardiogram was analyzed by time (TD) (standard deviation of mean R-R intervals) and frequency domain (FD) methods. The power spectral components were expressed as absolute (a) and normalized units (nu) at low (LF) and high (HF) frequencies and as the LF/HF ratio. Control (C) condition: HRV in TD (Y: 108, MA: 96 ms; P<0.05) and FD - LFa, HFa - was significantly higher in young (1030; 2589 ms²/Hz) than in middle-aged men (357; 342 ms²/Hz) only during sleep (P<0.05); post-training effects: resting bradycardia (P<0.05) in the awake condition in both groups; VO2 increased for both groups at anaerobic threshold (P<0.05), and at peak condition only in young men; HRV in TD and FD (a and nu) was not significantly changed by training in either groups. The vagal predominance during sleep is reduced with aging. The resting bradycardia induced by short-term APT in both age groups suggests that this adaptation is much more related to intrinsic alterations in sinus node than in efferent vagal-sympathetic modulation. Furthermore, the greater alterations in VO2 than in HRV may be related to short-term APT.

Autonomic modulation of heart rate of young and postmenopausal women undergoing estrogen therapy

The aim of the present study was to determine whether estrogen therapy (ET) reduces alterations of the autonomic control of heart rate (HR) due to hypoestrogenism and aging. Thirteen young (24 ± 2.6 years), 10 postmenopausal (53 ± 4.6 years) undergoing ET (PM-ET), and 14 postmenopausal (56 ± 2.6 years) women not undergoing ET (PM) were studied. ET consisted of 0.625 mg/day conjugated equine estrogen. HR was recorded continuously for 8 min at rest in the supine and sitting positions. HR variability (HRV) was analyzed by time (SDNN and rMSSD indices) and frequency domain methods. Power spectral components are reported as normalized units (nu) at low (LF) and high (HF) frequencies, and as LF/HF ratio. Intergroup comparisons: SDNN index was higher in young (median: supine, 47 ms; sitting, 42 ms) than in PM-ET (33; 29 ms) and PM (31; 29 ms) women (P < 0.05). PM showed lower HFnu, higher LFnu and higher LF/HF ratio (supine: 44, 56, 1.29; sitting: 38, 62, 1.60) than the young group in the supine position (61, 39, 0.63) and the PM-ET group in the sitting position (57, 43, 0.75; P < 0.05). Intragroup comparisons: HR was lower in the supine than in the sitting position for all groups (P < 0.05). The HRV decrease from the supine to the sitting position was significant only in the young group. These results suggest that HRV decreases during aging. ET seems to attenuate this process, promoting a reduction in sympathetic activity on the heart and contributing to the cardioprotective effect of estrogen hormones.

Continuing education learning preferences and styles of legal clinic lawyers /

The purpose of this qualitative research was to study the learning preferences and styles of management lawyers who work in Ontario's legal aid clinics. Data were gathered from two sources and analyzed using the constant comparison method. A preand postconference survey provided the principal data on clinic lawyers' learning preferences. Follow-up interviews were then conducted with 3 purposefully selected survey participants to explore their personal learning styles. Kolb's experiential learning theory provided the theoretical framework for discussing personal learning styles. The findings showed a general consistency among the lawyers to learn by listening to lectures and experts. This preference may suggest a lingering influence from law school training. The lawyers' more informal learning associated with daily practice, however, appeared to be guided by various learning styles. The learning style discussions provided some support for Kolb's model but also confirmed some shortcomings noted by other authors. Educators who design continuing education programs for lawyers may benefit from some insights gained from this exploratory research. This study adds to a limited but growing body of work on the learning preferences and styles of lawyers and suggests new questions for future research.

Investigating opposing aftereffects in 8-year-olds and adults

Previous studies have shown that adults and 8-year-olds process faces using norm-based coding and that prolonged exposure to one kind of facial distortion (e.g., compressed features) temporarily shifts the prototype, a process called adaptation, making similarly distorted faces appear more attractive (Anzures et aI., 2009; Valentine, 1999; Webster & MacLin, 1999). Aftereffects provide evidence that our prototype is continually updated by experience. When adults are adapted to two face categories (e.g., Caucasian and Chinese; male and female) distorted in opposing directions (e.g., expanded vs. compressed), their attractiveness ratings shift in opposite directions (Bestelmeyer et aI., 2008; Jaquet et aI., 2007), indicating that adults have dissociable prototypes for some face categories. I created a novel meth04 to investigate whether children show opposing aftereffects. Children and adults were adapted to Caucasian and Chinese faces distorted in opposite directions in the context of a computerized storybook. When testing adults to validate my method, I discovered that opposing aftereffects are contingent on how participants categorize faces and that this categorization is dependent on the context in which adapting stimuli are presented. Opposing aftereffects for Caucasian and Chinese faces were evident when the salience of race was exaggerated by presenting faces in the context of racially segregated birthday parties; expanded faces selected as most normal more often for the race of face that was expanded during adaptation than for the race of face that was compressed. However, opposing aftereffects were not evident when members of the two groups were presented engaging in cooperative social interactions at a racially integrated birthday party. Using the storybook that emphasized face race I 11 provide the first evidence that 8-year-olds demonstrate opposing aftereffects for two face categories defined by race, both when judging face normality and when rating attractiveness.

Dynamic Upper Leg Strength and Neuromuscular Function in Children, Adolescents and Adults

This study examined muscle strength, muscle performance, and neuromuscular function during contractions at different velocities across maturation stages and between sexes. Participants included pre-pubertal, late-pubertal and adult males and females. All completed 8 isometric and 8 isokinetic leg extensions at two different velocities. Peak torque (PT), rate of torque development (PrTD), electromechanical-day (EMD), rate of muscle activation (Q30), muscle activation efficiency and coactivation were determined. Sex, maturity, and velocity main effects were found in PT and PrTD, reflecting greater values in men, adults, and isometric contractions respectively. When values were normalized to quadriceps cross-sectional area (qCSA), there was still an increase with maturity. EMD decreased with maturity. Adults had greater activation efficiency than children. Overall, differences in muscle size and neuromuscular function failed to explain group differences in PT or PrTD. More research is needed to investigate why adults may be affected to a greater extent by increasing movement velocity.

An Examination of the Development of Online Higher Education in Canada and China: Keeping Pace and Making Space

This study examined the similarities and differences that currently exist between Chinese and Canadian online higher education, and explored the economic, political, and sociocultural environments that have shaped online education in these two jurisdictions. Furthermore, this paper discussed the efficacy of, and potential for, future development of online learning in higher education in both Canada and China. The research employed a collective case study design to gather information and data on the development of online higher education. The analysis on Contact North in Canada and the One-Man University in China provide a comparative perspective on the development of 2 typical online higher educational institutions in these two countries. The study revealed that the development of online higher education is influenced by the economic, political, and sociocultural factors of environment. Contact North and the One-Man University share similarities in many aspects, but are characteristically different. The Contact North can set an example for establishing and operating a self-regulated MOOCs platform. The study also generated implications for both organizations.