The Importance of Work, Family and Leisure among Girls Finishing Compulsory Education

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Development, implementation and evaluation of an activated sludge supervisory system for the Granollers WWTP

La present tesi pretén recollir l'experiència viscuda en desenvolupar un sistema supervisor intel·ligent per a la millora de la gestió de plantes depuradores d'aigües residuals., implementar-lo en planta real (EDAR Granollers) i avaluar-ne el funcionament dia a dia amb situacions típiques de la planta. Aquest sistema supervisor combina i integra eines de control clàssic de les plantes depuradores (controlador automàtic del nivell d'oxigen dissolt al reactor biològic, ús de models descriptius del procés...) amb l'aplicació d'eines del camp de la intel·ligència artificial (sistemes basats en el coneixement, concretament sistemes experts i sistemes basats en casos, i xarxes neuronals). Aquest document s'estructura en 9 capítols diferents. Hi ha una primera part introductòria on es fa una revisió de l'estat actual del control de les EDARs i s'explica el perquè de la complexitat de la gestió d'aquests processos (capítol 1). Aquest capítol introductori juntament amb el capítol 2, on es pretén explicar els antecedents d'aquesta tesi, serveixen per establir els objectius d'aquest treball (capítol 3). A continuació, el capítol 4 descriu les peculiaritats i especificitats de la planta que s'ha escollit per implementar el sistema supervisor. Els capítols 5 i 6 del present document exposen el treball fet per a desenvolupar el sistema basat en regles o sistema expert (capítol 6) i el sistema basat en casos (capítol 7). El capítol 8 descriu la integració d'aquestes dues eines de raonament en una arquitectura multi nivell distribuïda. Finalment, hi ha una darrer capítol que correspon a la avaluació (verificació i validació), en primer lloc, de cadascuna de les eines per separat i, posteriorment, del sistema global en front de situacions reals que es donin a la depuradora

O banco mundial e a política educacional no Estado da Bahia a partir de 1996, o programa Educar para vencer : fortalecimento da gestão educacional

RESUMO: A gestão do sistema educacional brasileiro foi significativamente descentralizada pela Constituição Federal de 1988 (CF/88) ao reconhecer a autonomia entre os três níveis federativos e ao introduzir o princípio da gestão democrática da Educação. Assim motivado, o sistema educacional baiano iniciou sua reforma em 1999, através do Programa Educar para Vencer, tendo como referencial oferecer maiores níveis de autonomia e capacidade local de gestão para as unidades escolares públicas no Estado da Bahia. Para fortalecer a gestão educacional, o Governo, através do Projeto Fortalecimento da Gestão e Autonomia Educacional (PFGAE), introduziu o planejamento estratégico para melhorar a qualidade de ensino como ferramenta de gestão das escolas públicas estaduais baianas, apoiado em um amplo programa de financiamento para a sua implementação. ABSTRACT: The administration of Brazil’s educational system was significantly decentralized by the Federal Constitution of 1988 (CF/88) when it recognized the autonomy between the three federative levels and introduced the education’s democratic management principle. Motivated by that, Bahia’s educational system started its reform in 1999, through the “Educar para Vencer” (Educate to Win) program, having as its aim to offer bigger levels of autonomy and administrative local capacity for public schools in the State of Bahia. To strengthen the educational administration, the government, via the Administration Strengthening and Educational Autonomy Project (PFGAE), introduced the strategic planning to improve the quality of education as a management tool of the state schools of Bahia, supported by a wide financing program for its implementation.

Organização da escola e as necessidades educativas especiais

RESUMO: Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar as entidades que interagem entre si para tornar a Escola verdadeiramente inclusiva: Órgãos de Gestão e Professores. Se no caso dos primeiros, estamos a falar de decisões a dois níveis, pedagógico e organizacional, como por exemplo a nível dos processos de avaliação, ou no estabelecimento de um critério de atribuição das turmas aos professores mais experientes, logo mais capazes para lidar com estas dificuldades inerentes aos alunos com NEE, no caso dos professores falamos exclusivamente de decisões a nível pedagógico, relacionadas com formas de organização, construção de currículo, formações de grupos ou a definição de tutorias durante a aula. A recolha de dados, feita a partir de um conjunto de entrevistas a professores e directores de escolas, e a sua análise qualitativa permitiu apurar que no caso dos professores, as decisões tomadas têm ido ao encontro dos estudos actuais, com métodos de trabalho que assentam no trabalho cooperativo (Johnson, &, Johnson, 1990) como meio de promover a inclusão destes alunos no seio de uma turma regular. Em relação às escolas analisadas, não existem critérios consistentes para distribuição dos alunos com necessidades educativas permanentes por diferentes turmas, com desrespeito do quadro normativo, nem para a atribuição de turmas aos professores. o que na prática significa que frequentemente as turmas com mais alunos portadores de necessidades educativas especiais são atribuídas de forma aparentemente aleatória, recaindo nos professores em início de carreira e em estágio pedagógico, a quem é pedido que façam as pontes entre a escola e as respectivas famílias, entre a investigação e a prática lectiva, numa relação contínua de estudo, reflexão e acção. ABSTRACT: This qualitative based study, aims at analyzing the interactions between the two entities responsible for promoting inclusive schools: Governing Bodies and Teachers. Supported by the legal framework concerning the conditions to include Special Needs Students in regular schools, the former are the ones responsible for, at educational and organizational levels, establishing the guidelines for learning assessment and setting the criteria for assigning students to classes and classes to teachers. The teachers are in charge of decisions concerning the field work, such as the relationships with families, the issues of classroom work, and of responding to students’ learning needs, may these be permanent or occasional. Regardless of their experience in classroom teaching, it is the responsibility of each teacher to care for their classroom inclusiveness, taking care of the specificities of the Special Needs Students allocated to their classes, and taking decisions concerning the classroom organization, the composition of the working groups , the curriculum administration and the involvement of all students in tutoring the “special” ones , so that they may be included as successful class members, according to the level of expectations designed for their conditions. Governing Bodies and teachers behaved differently in responding to the interviews designed for this study, teachers being more open to talk about their conditions of work, their teaching strategies and working methods. These are based on classroom cooperative work, coping with the current research findings on the same issues of inclusion in regular school settings. It is up to them to bridge school and families, knowledge and practice, self-study, reflection and action. Governing bodies, however, revealed to be more inconsistent in assigning teachers to classes, and in allocating Special Needs Students to regular classes, often skipping what is established in the national norms.

Formação continuada de professores e melhoria do exercício docente

O presente trabalho teve como ponto de partida os resultados dos rendimentos escolares apresentados pelo SAEB (Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica) e o SAEPE (Sistema de Avaliação Escolar de Pernambuco), frente às ações de intervenções promovidas pelas políticas públicas implementadas pelo governo de Pernambuco, através dos programas de formação continuada, direcionados na perspectiva de reverter os baixos índices do rendimento escolar, o que nos possibilitou a delinear objetivos que nos permitissem a identificar a relação entre os indicadores do SAEB, SAEPE e Programas de Formação Continuada no redimensionamento do saber fazer docente e implicações na melhoria do desempenho docente, bem como identificar limites e possibilidades da formação na melhoria do desempenho docente, em razão dos indicadores apresentados. As transformações do mundo têm interferido de forma contundente no campo da educação, bem como nos vários aspectos da gestão educacional, escolar, curricular e particularmente na formação continuada, com vistas no desempenho docente, tendo como objeto crescente a atenção dos pesquisadores com atuação na educação. As políticas educacionais no Brasil vêm demonstrado preocupação com a qualidade do ensino ofertada pela escola pública, decorrente das pressões dos organismos internacionais, que veem na educação a solução dos problemas enfrentados por um mundo cada vez mais globalizado, de transformações e descobertas tecnológicas que caracterizam hoje, a chamada sociedade do conhecimento. Tal contexto, em que a escola pública brasileira se encontrava, mobilizou os gestores a buscarem ações de intervenção no sentido de reverter o quadro tão comprometedor que o ensino público da Educação Básica brasileira se apresentava. O repensar das práticas pedagógicas vivenciadas no contexto escolar, recai sobre o professor, a responsabilidade do resultado que a escola apresenta. Falar da prática pedagógica recai necessariamente na formação inicial e continuada desse professor. Para sua realização utilizou-se uma abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa. As técnicas de coleta de dados foram aplicação de questionários a 100 professores da educação básica da rede pública, entrevistas com cinco formadores e análise dos documentos relacionados com a política de formação continuada. O estudo demonstrou que o modelo proposto, pouco tem contribuído para o desenvolvimento profissional docente, não envolvendo, portanto, o professor diretamente no processo formativo, com exceção dos que participam de alguns programas (SAEB / SAEPE) que visam diretamente à melhoria dos índices de aprendizagem em língua portuguesa e matemática, na perspectiva de que a formação os instrumentalize a aplicar técnicas, que a formação continuada não atende nem suas necessidades, nem da escola. Os demais professores só se encontram uma vez por ano, em estilo de grande evento, enquanto as formações ocorrem de forma desarticulada e fragmentada. Em consequência, foram apresentadas algumas reflexões no intuito de provocar e contribuir na revisão da concepção de formação continuada vivenciada pelos professores da rede pública do ensino de Pernambuco.

The relation of E.Q and I.Q. to learning from the standard self-instructional programs in spelling and english

This paper reviews a study that was done with hearing and hearing impaired children to test the effectiveness of self-instructional programs and whether the results can be correlated with Educational Quotient and Intelligence Quotient.

Workplace Innovation and Technological Change. CEPS Special Report, September 2012

This paper explores the extent to which the illusive phenomenon of workplace innovation has pervaded workplaces in Europe and whether it could be one of the answers to Europe’s longterm social and economic challenges that stem from an ageing workforce and the need for more flexibility to stay competitive. Basic data drawn from European Working Conditions Survey conducted every five years by the Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions are supplemented by a series of case studies to look at the problems encountered in introducing workplace innovation and possible solutions. One set of case studies examines the following organisations: SGI/GI (Slovak Governance Institute (Slovakia), as representative of the world of small- and medium-sized enterprises; Oticon (Denmark) as representative of manufacturing companies; the Open University (UK), as representative of educational organizations; and FPS Social Security (Belgium) representing the public sector. Two final case studies focus on the country-level, one looking at of how a specific innovation can become fully mainstreamed (in the Netherlands and the ‘part-time economy’) and the other (Finland and TEKES) looking at how a government programme can help disseminate workplace innovation. These six case studies, together with the statistical analysis, constitute the main empirical value added of the report.

An assessment of the benefits and limitations of the shamba agroforestry system in Kenya and of management and policy requirements for its successful and sustainable reintroduction

The shamba system involves farmers tending tree saplings on state-owned forest land in return for being permitted to intercrop perennial food crops until canopy closure. At one time the system was used throughout all state-owned forest lands in Kenya, accounting for a large proportion of some 160,000 ha. The system should theoretically be mutually beneficial to both local people and the government. However the system has had a chequered past in Kenya due to widespread malpractice and associated environmental degradation. It was last banned in 2003 but in early 2008 field trials were initiated for its reintroduction. This study aimed to: assess the benefits and limitations of the shamba system in Kenya; assess the main influences on the extent to which the limitations and benefits are realised and; consider the management and policy requirements for the system's successful and sustainable operation. Information was obtained from 133 questionnaires using mainly open ended questions and six participatory workshops carried out in forest-adjacent communities on the western slopes of Mount Kenya in Nyeri district. In addition interviews were conducted with key informants from communities and organisations. There was strong desire amongst local people for the system's reintroduction given that it had provided significant food, income and employment. Local perceptions of the failings of the system included firstly mismanagement by government or forest authorities and secondly abuse of the system by shamba farmers and outsiders. Improvements local people considered necessary for the shamba system to work included more accountability and transparency in administration and better rules with respect to plot allocation and stewardship. Ninety-seven percent of respondents said they would like to be more involved in management of the forest and 80% that they were willing to pay for the use of a plot. The study concludes that the structural framework laid down by the 2005 Forests Act, which includes provision for the reimplementation of the shamba system under the new plantation establishment and livelihood improvement scheme (PELIS) [It should be noted that whilst the shamba system was re-branded in 2008 under the acronym PELIS, for the sake of simplicity the authors continue to refer to the 'shamba system' and 'shamba farmers' throughout this paper.], is weakened because insufficient power is likely to be devolved to local people, casting them merely as 'forest users' and the shamba system as a 'forest user right'. In so doing the system's potential to both facilitate and embody the participation of local people in forest management is limited and the long-term sustainability of the new system is questionable. Suggested instruments to address this include some degree of sharing of profits from forest timber, performance related guarantees for farmers to gain a new plot and use of joint committees consisting of local people and the forest authorities for long term management of forests.

Changing Standards? Children's awareness and knowledge of features of written standard English at ages 10-11

This paper reports the findings of a small-scale research project, which investigated the levels of awareness and knowledge of written standard English of 10- and 11-year-old children in two English primary schools over a six-year period, coinciding with the implementation in the schools of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS). A questionnaire was used to provide quantitative and qualitative data relating to: features of writing which were recognised as standard or non-standard; children's understanding of technical terminology; variations between boys' and girls' performance; and the impact of the NLS over time. The findings reveal variations in levels of recognition of different non-standard features, differences between girls' and boys' recognition, possible examples of language change, but no evidence of a positive impact of the NLS. The implications of these findings are discussed both in terms of changes in educational standards and changes to standard English.

PINCER trial: a cluster randomised trial comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a pharmacist-led IT-based intervention with simple feedback in reducing rates of clinically important errors in medicines management in general practices

Background: Medication errors in general practice are an important source of potentially preventable morbidity and mortality. Building on previous descriptive, qualitative and pilot work, we sought to investigate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and likely generalisability of a complex pharm acist-led IT-based intervention aiming to improve prescribing safety in general practice. Objectives: We sought to: • Test the hypothesis that a pharmacist-led IT-based complex intervention using educational outreach and practical support is more effective than simple feedback in reducing the proportion of patients at risk from errors in prescribing and medicines management in general practice. • Conduct an economic evaluation of the cost per error avoided, from the perspective of the National Health Service (NHS). • Analyse data recorded by pharmacists, summarising the proportions of patients judged to be at clinical risk, the actions recommended by pharmacists, and actions completed in the practices. • Explore the views and experiences of healthcare professionals and NHS managers concerning the intervention; investigate potential explanations for the observed effects, and inform decisions on the future roll-out of the pharmacist-led intervention • Examine secular trends in the outcome measures of interest allowing for informal comparison between trial practices and practices that did not participate in the trial contributing to the QRESEARCH database. Methods Two-arm cluster randomised controlled trial of 72 English general practices with embedded economic analysis and longitudinal descriptive and qualitative analysis. Informal comparison of the trial findings with a national descriptive study investigating secular trends undertaken using data from practices contributing to the QRESEARCH database. The main outcomes of interest were prescribing errors and medication monitoring errors at six- and 12-months following the intervention. Results: Participants in the pharmacist intervention arm practices were significantly less likely to have been prescribed a non-selective NSAID without a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) if they had a history of peptic ulcer (OR 0.58, 95%CI 0.38, 0.89), to have been prescribed a beta-blocker if they had asthma (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.58, 0.91) or (in those aged 75 years and older) to have been prescribed an ACE inhibitor or diuretic without a measurement of urea and electrolytes in the last 15 months (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.34, 0.78). The economic analysis suggests that the PINCER pharmacist intervention has 95% probability of being cost effective if the decision-maker’s ceiling willingness to pay reaches £75 (6 months) or £85 (12 months) per error avoided. The intervention addressed an issue that was important to professionals and their teams and was delivered in a way that was acceptable to practices with minimum disruption of normal work processes. Comparison of the trial findings with changes seen in QRESEARCH practices indicated that any reductions achieved in the simple feedback arm were likely, in the main, to have been related to secular trends rather than the intervention. Conclusions Compared with simple feedback, the pharmacist-led intervention resulted in reductions in proportions of patients at risk of prescribing and monitoring errors for the primary outcome measures and the composite secondary outcome measures at six-months and (with the exception of the NSAID/peptic ulcer outcome measure) 12-months post-intervention. The intervention is acceptable to pharmacists and practices, and is likely to be seen as costeffective by decision makers.

Technological change and the challenges for regional development: building social capital in less-favoured regions

The relevance of regional policy for less favoured regions (LFRs) reveals itself when policy-makers must reconcile competitiveness with social cohesion through the adaptation of competition or innovation policies. The vast literature in this area generally builds on an overarching concept of ‘social capital’ as the necessary relational infrastructure for collective action diversification and policy integration, in a context much influenced by a dynamic of industrial change and a necessary balance between the creation and diffusion of ‘knowledge’ through learning. This relational infrastructure or ‘social capital’ is centred on people’s willingness to cooperate and ‘envision’ futures as a result of “social organization, such as networks, norms and trust that facilitate action and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Putnam, 1993: 35). Advocates of this interpretation of ‘social capital’ have adopted the ‘new growth’ thinking behind ‘systems of innovation’ and ‘competence building’, arguing that networks have the potential to make both public administration and markets more effective as well as ‘learning’ trajectories more inclusive of the development of society as a whole. This essay aims to better understand the role of ‘social capital’ in the production and reproduction of uneven regional development patterns, and to critically assess the limits of a ‘systems concept’ and an institution-centred approach to comparative studies of regional innovation. These aims are discussed in light of the following two assertions: i) learning behaviour, from an economic point of view, has its determinants, and ii) the positive economic outcomes of ‘social capital’ cannot be taken as a given. It is suggested that an agent-centred approach to comparative research best addresses the ‘learning’ determinants and the consequences of social networks on regional development patterns. A brief discussion of the current debate on innovation surveys has been provided to illustrate this point.

A pharmacist-led information technology intervention for medication errors (PINCER): a multicentre, cluster randomised, controlled trial and cost-effectiveness analysis

Background: Medication errors are common in primary care and are associated with considerable risk of patient harm. We tested whether a pharmacist-led, information technology-based intervention was more effective than simple feedback in reducing the number of patients at risk of measures related to hazardous prescribing and inadequate blood-test monitoring of medicines 6 months after the intervention. Methods: In this pragmatic, cluster randomised trial general practices in the UK were stratified by research site and list size, and randomly assigned by a web-based randomisation service in block sizes of two or four to one of two groups. The practices were allocated to either computer-generated simple feedback for at-risk patients (control) or a pharmacist-led information technology intervention (PINCER), composed of feedback, educational outreach, and dedicated support. The allocation was masked to general practices, patients, pharmacists, researchers, and statisticians. Primary outcomes were the proportions of patients at 6 months after the intervention who had had any of three clinically important errors: non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) prescribed to those with a history of peptic ulcer without co-prescription of a proton-pump inhibitor; β blockers prescribed to those with a history of asthma; long-term prescription of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or loop diuretics to those 75 years or older without assessment of urea and electrolytes in the preceding 15 months. The cost per error avoided was estimated by incremental cost-eff ectiveness analysis. This study is registered with Controlled-Trials.com, number ISRCTN21785299. Findings: 72 general practices with a combined list size of 480 942 patients were randomised. At 6 months’ follow-up, patients in the PINCER group were significantly less likely to have been prescribed a non-selective NSAID if they had a history of peptic ulcer without gastroprotection (OR 0∙58, 95% CI 0∙38–0∙89); a β blocker if they had asthma (0∙73, 0∙58–0∙91); or an ACE inhibitor or loop diuretic without appropriate monitoring (0∙51, 0∙34–0∙78). PINCER has a 95% probability of being cost eff ective if the decision-maker’s ceiling willingness to pay reaches £75 per error avoided at 6 months. Interpretation: The PINCER intervention is an effective method for reducing a range of medication errors in general practices with computerised clinical records. Funding: Patient Safety Research Portfolio, Department of Health, England.

Access to the countryside of England and Wales: public/private partnership or the privatisation of public rights?

This paper examines the evolution of public rights of access to private land in England and Wales. Since the Eighteenth Century the administration and protection of these rights has been though a form of public/private partnership in which the judiciary, while maintaining the dominance of private property, have safeguarded de facto public access by refusing consistently to punish simple trespass. While this situation has been modified, principally by post-World War II legislation, to allow for some formalisation of access arrangements and consequent compensation to landowners in areas of high recreational pressure and low legal accessibility, recent policy initiatives suggest that the balance of the partnership has now shifted in favour of landowners. In particular, the new access payment schemes, developed by the UK Government in response to the European Commission's Agri-Environment Regulations, locate the landowner as the beneficiary of the partnership, financed by tax revenue and justified on the spurious basis of improved 'access provision'. As such the state, as the former upholder of citizen rights, now assumes the duplicitous position of underwriting private property ownership through the commodification of access, while proclaiming a significant improvement in citizens' access rights.