Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning

Today, Digital Systems and Services for Technology Supported Learning and Education are recognized as the key drivers to transform the way that individuals, groups and organizations “learn” and the way to “assess learning” in 21st Century. These transformations influence: Objectives - moving from acquiring new “knowledge” to developing new and relevant “competences”; Methods – moving from “classroom” based teaching to “context-aware” personalized learning; and Assessment – moving from “life-long” degrees and certifications to “on-demand” and “in-context” accreditation of qualifications. Within this context, promoting Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning, is currently a key issue in the public discourse and the global dialogue on Education, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Flipped School Classrooms. This volume on Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning contributes to the international dialogue between researchers, technologists, practitioners and policy makers in Technology Supported Education and Learning. It addresses emerging issues related with both theory and practice, as well as, methods and technologies that can support Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning. In the twenty chapters contributed by international experts who are actively shaping the future of Educational Technology around the world, topics such as: - The evolution of University Open Courses in Transforming Learning - Supporting Open Access to Teaching and Learning of People with Disabilities - Assessing Student Learning in Online Courses - Digital Game-based Learning for School Education - Open Access to Virtual and Remote Labs for STEM Education - Teachers’ and Schools’ ICT Competence Profiling - Web-Based Education and Innovative Leadership in a K-12 International School Setting are presented. An in-depth blueprint of the promise, potential, and imminent future of the field, Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning is necessary reading for researchers and practitioners, as well as, undergraduate and postgraduate students, in educational technology.

Meeting the Challenges of Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production for Sustainable Water Governance

Increasing pressure on mountain water resources is making it necessary to address water governance issues in a transdisciplinary way. This entails drawing on different disciplinary perspectives, different types of knowledge, and different interests to answer complex governance questions. This study identifies strategies for addressing specific challenges to transdisciplinary knowledge production aiming at sustainable and reflective water governance. The study draws on the experiences of 5 large transdisciplinary water governance research projects conducted in Austria and Switzerland (Alp-Water-Scarce, MontanAqua, Drought-CH, Sustainable Water Infrastructure Planning, and an integrative river management project in the Kamp Valley). Experiences were discussed and systematically analyzed in a workshop and subsequent interviews. These discussions identified 4 important challenges to interactions between scientists and stakeholders—ensuring stakeholder legitimacy, encouraging participation, managing expectations, and preventing misuse of data and research results—and explored strategies used by the projects to meet them. Strategies ranged from key points to be considered in stakeholder selection to measures that enhance trustful relationships and create commitment.

State of the science on controversial topics: missing maxillary lateral incisors - a report of the Angle Society of Europe 2012 meeting

BACKGROUND The optimal long-term management of the congenitally missing maxillary lateral incisor continues to cause controversy within the specialty. The Angle Society of Europe meeting 2012 dedicated a day to address some of the current controversies relating to the management of these missing lateral incisors. FINDINGS The format of the day consisted of morning presentations and afternoon breakout sessions to discuss a variety of questions related to the management of missing lateral incisors. CONCLUSIONS The consensus viewpoint from this day was that the care of patients with congenitally missing lateral incisors is best achieved through a multi-disciplinary approach. The current evidence base is weak, and further well-designed, prospective trials are needed.

Current role of surgery for high risk prostate cancer

In this review, the role of surgery in patients with adverse tumor characteristics and a high risk of tumor progression are discussed. In the current PSA era the proportion of patients presenting with high risk prostate cancer (PCa) is estimated to be between 15% and 25% with a 10-year cancer specific survival in the range of 80-90% for those receiving active local treatment. The treatment of high risk prostate cancer is a contemporary challenge. Surgery in this group is gaining popularity since 10-year cancer specific survival data of over 90% has been described. Radical prostatectomy should be combined with extended lymphadenectomy. Adjuvant or salvage therapies may be needed in more than half of patients , guided by pathologic findings and postoperative PSA. Unfortunately there are no randomized controlled trials comparing radical prostatectomy to radiotherapy and no single treatment can be universally recommended. This group of high risk prostate cancer patients should be considered a multi-disciplinary challenge; however, for the properly selected patient, radical prostatectomy either as initial or as the only therapy can be considered an excellent treatment.

The Ethnographic Moment: Event and Debate in Mediatized Fieldwork

This article introduces the term ‘the ethnographic moment’, which takes up and ‘plays’ with the long-disputed ‘ethnographic present’ in anthropology, as an indicator of changing conditions and requirements for ethnography in the context of mass media and mediation. It argues that event and debate, rather than structure and practice, have become pivotal aspects in thinking and conducting fieldwork that has to deal with the ephemeral. At the same time, it tries to show that an unquestioning acceptance of technological advancement and speed of societal change immunizes us to the thinkable absence of media and obscures analysis of lasting states of injustice and inequality, in whose (re-)production they have a stake.

Low-Income Fathers’ Barriers to Participation in Family and Parenting Programs

This exploratory study used semi-structured focus groups to examine: 1) where and from whom fathers obtain information about parenting; 2) the types of parenting services men are aware of, and their attitudes about participating in such services; and 3) fathers’ perceived norms about the acceptability and utility of various parenting practices. Low-income men (N = 17) were recruited from a human services agency in Detroit, Michigan. Four major themes emerged. First was the need for male-focused community resources for fathers. Second was that men were aware of and used positive disciplinary strategies. Third was emphasis on fathers’ positive and effective communication, with male children in particular. Finally, men suggested that constructive and concrete activities, such as engaging with children in activities or mentorship programs with other adult men in the community, were preferable to traditional parenting class such as those offered through Child Protective Services.

Unraveling environmental drivers of a recent increase in Swiss fungi fruiting

Disentangling biotic and abiotic drivers of wild mushroom fruiting is fraught with difficulties because mycelial growth is hidden belowground, symbiotic and saprotrophic supply strategies may interact, and myco-ecological observations are often either discontinuous or too short. Here, we compiled and analyzed 115 417 weekly fungal fruit body counts from permanent Swiss inventories between 1975 and 2006. Mushroom fruiting exhibited an average autumnal delay of 12 days after 1991 compared with before, the annual number of fruit bodies increased from 1801 to 5414 and the mean species richness doubled from 10 to 20. Intra- and interannual coherency of symbiotic and saprotrophic mushroom fruiting, together with little agreement between mycorrhizal yield and tree growth suggests direct climate controls on fruit body formation of both nutritional modes. Our results contradict a previously reported declining of mushroom harvests and propose rethinking the conceptual role of symbiotic pathways in fungi-host interaction. Moreover, this conceptual advancement may foster new cross-disciplinary research avenues, and stimulate questions about possible amplifications of the global carbon cycle, as enhanced fungal production in moist mid-latitude forests rises carbon cycling and thus increases greenhouse gas exchanges between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere.

Tracing the origin of Arctic driftwood

Arctic environments, where surface temperatures increase and sea ice cover and permafrost depth decrease, are very sensitive to even slight climatic variations. Placing recent environmental change of the high-northern latitudes in a long-term context is, however, complicated by too short meteorological observations and too few proxy records. Driftwood may represent a unique cross-disciplinary archive at the interface of marine and terrestrial processes. Here, we introduce 1445 driftwood remains from coastal East Greenland and Svalbard. Macroscopy and microscopy were applied for wood anatomical classification; a multi-species subset was used for detecting fungi; and information on boreal vegetation patterns, circumpolar river systems, and ocean current dynamics was reviewed and evaluated. Four conifer (Pinus, Larix, Picea, and Abies) and three deciduous (Populus, Salix, and Betula) genera were differentiated. Species-specific identification also separated Pinus sylvestris and Pinus sibirica, which account for ~40% of all driftwood and predominantly originate from western and central Siberia. Larch and spruce from Siberia or North America represents ~26% and ~18% of all materials, respectively. Fungal colonization caused different levels of driftwood staining and/or decay. Our results demonstrate the importance of combining wood anatomical knowledge with insight on boreal forest composition for successfully tracing the origin of Arctic driftwood. To ultimately reconstruct spatiotemporal variations in ocean currents, and to better quantify postglacial uplift rates, we recommend consideration of dendrochronologically dated material from many more circumpolar sites.

Intellectual Property and Traditional Cultural Expressions in a Digital Environment. Preface

In the face of increasing globalisation, there is a pressing need for innovative trans-disciplinary analyses of the value of traditional cultural expressions (TCE) that also suggest appropriate protection mechanisms for them. The book to which this preface belongs combines approaches from history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology and law, and charts previously untravelled paths for developing new policy tools and legal designs that go beyond conventional copyright models. It reflects also upon the specific features of the digital environment, which, despite enhancing the risks of misappropriation of traditional knowledge and creativity, may equally offer some opportunities for revitalising indigenous peoples' values and provide for the sustainability of TCE.

A Preliminary Impact Assessment of Doha Round Results on Agricultural Policies in Turkey

Turkish agriculture has been experiencing a period of unique policy experiment over the last couple years. A World Bank-initiated project, called the Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP), has been at the forefront of policy change. It was initially promoted by the Bank as an exemplary reform package which could also be adopted by other developing countries. It was introduced in 2001 as part of a major International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank-imposed program of “structural adjustment” after the country had been hit by a major financial crisis. The project has finally come to an end in 2009, and there is now an urgent need for a retrospective assessment of its overall impact on the agricultural sector. Has it fulfilled its ambitious objective of reforming and restructuring Turkish agriculture? Or should it be recorded as a failure of the neo-liberal doctrine? This book aims at finding answers to these questions by investigating the legacy of ARIP from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

From Framework to Action: The DESIRE Approach to Combat Desertification

It has become increasingly clear that desertification can only be tackled through a multi-disciplinary approach that not only involves scientists but also stakeholders. In the DESIRE project such an approach was taken. As a first step, a conceptual framework was developed in which the factors and processes that may lead to land degradation and desertification were described. Many of these factors do not work independently, but can reinforce or weaken one another, and to illustrate these relationships sustainable management and policy feedback loops were included. This conceptual framework can be applied globally, but can also be made site-specific to take into account that each study site has a unique combination of bio-physical, socio-economic and political conditions. Once the conceptual framework was defined, a methodological framework was developed in which the methodological steps taken in the DESIRE approach were listed and their logic and sequence were explained. The last step was to develop a concrete working plan to put the project into action, involving stakeholders throughout the process. This series of steps, in full or in part, offers explicit guidance for other organizations or projects that aim to reduce land degradation and desertification.

Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy for patients with somatostatin receptor expressing tumours. German Guideline (S1).

This document describes the guideline for peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) published by the German Society of Nuclear Medicine (DGN) and accepted by the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) to be included in the official AWMF Guideline Registry. These recommendations are a prerequisite for the quality management in the treatment of patients with somatostatin receptor expressing tumours using PRRT. They are aimed at guiding nuclear medicine specialists in selecting likely candidates to receive PRRT and to deliver the treatment in a safe and effective manner. The recommendations are based on an interdisciplinary consensus. The document contains background information and definitions and covers the rationale, indications and contraindications for PRRT. Essential topics are the requirements for institutions performing the therapy, e. g. presence of an expert for medical physics, intense cooperation with all colleagues involved in the treatment of a patient, and a certificate of instruction in radiochemical labelling and quality control are required. Furthermore, it is specified which patient data have to be available prior to performance of therapy and how treatment has to be carried out technically. Here, quality control and documentation of labelling are of great importance. After treatment, clinical quality control is mandatory (work-up of therapy data and follow-up of patients). Essential elements of follow-up are specified in detail. The complete treatment inclusive after-care has to be realised in close cooperation with the involved medical disciplines. Generally, the decision for PRRT should be undertaken within the framework of a multi-disciplinary tumour board.

“Se querem que façamos algo pela floresta tem que nos pagar”: As lógicas da participação dos camponeses nos Comités de Gestão dos Recursos Naturais nos distritos de Palma e Mocimboa da Praia em 2009: Relatório do trabalho de campo em Namiune, Nkonga e 5º Congresso, Maputo, Dezembro de 2010

Our study considers the natural resources of the Miombo forests in Cabo Delgado from a broad ecosystems perspective. Thus, our view goes beyond the disciplinary approaches of forestry, agronomy, biology or zoology, and also of the social sciences, namely anthropology, history, sociology, political science or economics. The present study aims to establish a dialogue and create synergies between Miti Ltd. – the logging company and owner of the forest concessions – as well as government and state structures at the various levels and the communities – through the Committees on Natural Resources – in order to promote the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems. The research methodology we used can broadly be described as moderated transdisciplinary interaction for action-research based on the approach known as Learning for Sustainability (LforS, http://www.cde.unibe.ch/Pages/Project/2/14/Learning-for-Sustainability-Extension-Approach.aspx). The research methods used include: LforS seminars; field work; forests observations focusing, among others, on ecosystems, trees, wildlife, and burned areas; visits to farms; and interviews. We conducted both collective interviews and individual interviews, including with key informants. The main results indicate that members of the Committee on Natural Resources have a dual attitude: their statements defend the paradigm of sustainable use of natural resources as well as their own immediate monetary gain. They are willing to apply the values, concepts and theories of sustainable development that underpin the establishment of Committees on Natural Resources if they are paid for their work or if they can derive direct benefits from it, i.e. if they can earn a salary or allowance. If this does not happen, however, they are willing to allow actors to engage in illegal hunting or logging activities. This dual attitude also exists in relation to forestry operators. If the concession workers pay the committee members in cash or provide goods, they can run their business even if they violate the law. Natural forest regeneration in Nkonga and Namiune already shows the impact of such use. Although there are many saplings that could basically ensure continuous regeneration under sustainable management, repeated burning is damaging the young trees, deforming them and killing a great number of them. Campaigns against uncontrolled fires are ineffective because the administrative and political authorities have a dual attitude as well and are also part of the group that uses resources to their own profit and benefit. There are institutional structures within the administration, populations, and communities to perform regulating functions, create and implement rules, punish offenders, and oversee resource use. However, they feel that since they are not paid for performing these functions, they do not have to do so. This attitude shows a lack of awareness, but also indicates a situation where everyone seeks to derive maximum benefits from existing resource use patterns. Anything goes.