Record of undergraduates’ activities in virtual learning environments

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) have witnessed a high evolution, namely regarding their potentialities, the tools and the activities they provide. VLEs enable us to access large quantities of data resulting from both students and teachers’ activities developed in those environments. Monitoring undergraduates’ activities in VLEs is important as it allows us to showcase, in a structured way, a number of indicators which may be taken into account to understand the learning process more deeply and to propose improvements in the teaching and learning strategies as well as in the institution’s virtual environment. Although VLEs provide several data sectorial statistics, they do not provide knowledge regarding the institution’s evolution. Therefore, we consider the analysis of the activity logs in VLEs over a period of five years to be paramount. This paper focuses on the analysis of the activities developed by students in a virtual learning environment, from a sample of undergraduate students, approximately 7000 per year, over a period of five academic years, namely from 2009/2010 to 2013/2014. The main aims of this research work are to assess the evolution of activity logs in the virtual learning environment of a Portuguese public higher education institution, in order to fill possible gaps and to hold out the prospect of new forms of use of the environment. The results obtained from the data analysis show that overall, the number of accesses to the virtual learning environment increased over the five years under study. The most used tools were Resources, Messages and Assignments. The most frequent activities developed with these tools were respectively consulting information, sending messages and submitting assignments. The frequency of accesses to the virtual learning environment was characterized according to the number of accesses in the activity log. The data distribution was divided into five frequency categories named very low, low, moderate, high and very high, determined by the percentiles 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100, respectively. The study of activity logs of virtual learning environments is important not only because they provide real knowledge of the use that undergraduates make of these environments, but also because of the possibilities they create regarding the identification of a need for new pedagogical approaches or a reinforcement of previously consolidated approaches.

Signalling in malaria parasites. The MALSIG consortium

Depending on their developmental stage in the life cycle, malaria parasites develop within or outside host cells, and in extremely diverse contexts such as the vertebrate liver and blood circulation, or the insect midgut and hemocoel. Cellular and molecular mechanisms enabling the parasite to sense and respond to the intra- and the extra-cellular environments are therefore key elements for the proliferation and transmission of Plasmodium, and therefore are, from a public health perspective, strategic targets in the fight against this deadly disease. The MALSIG consortium, which was initiated in February 2009, was designed with the primary objective to integrate research ongoing in Europe and India on i) the properties of Plasmodium signalling molecules, and ii) developmental processes occurring at various points of the parasite life cycle. On one hand, functional studies of individual genes and their products in Plasmodium falciparum (and in the technically more manageable rodent model Plasmodium berghei) are providing information on parasite protein kinases and phosphatases, and of the molecules governing cyclic nucleotide metabolism and calcium signalling. On the other hand, cellular and molecular studies are elucidating key steps of parasite development such as merozoite invasion and egress in blood and liver parasite stages, control of DNA replication in asexual and sexual development, membrane dynamics and trafficking, production of gametocytes in the vertebrate host and further parasite development in the mosquito. This article, which synthetically reviews such signalling molecules and cellular processes, aims to provide a glimpse of the global frame in which the activities of the MALSIG consortium will develop over the next three years.

Evolution of plant water relations research in Australia

Ecophysiological research in Australia has focussed, at different times, on the fundamental similarities in function between all plant species, and on the peculiarity of Australian species with respect to their survival in stressful environments. Early work on plant water relations emphasised the differences between species, and indicated that diverse structural and functional attributes occurred in species from the same water-limited environment. Most recent research has emphasised processes that optimise rates of carbon dioxide exchange, but the understanding of functioning in plants with different morphological arrangements is incomplete. Variation in functions between individual plants and geographic populations in wild species has been examined to a lesser extent. The great variety within and between populations of wild plant species warrants further study for both understanding and more effective management of this biological resource.

Towards definition of the global biotechnology value chain using cases from Australian biotechnology SMEs

The generic pharmaceutical value chain model has been employed to describe both the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries till now. This research investigates the organisational value chain in Australian biotechnology companies in order to assess the appropriateness of the pharmaceutical value chain to small-and medium-sized biotechnology companies. The main theme of the research is: Can a generic model of the organisational value chain be defined for the biotechnology industry? Emanating from the literature, two research propositions were developed. RP1: there are eight major definable elements/activities of the organisational value chain for the biotechnology industry. RP2: Coverage of the elements in the biotechnology value chain ranges from focused to broad. A multiple case study methodology was used to explore these propositions. To develop a number of case studies, data was collected from senior managers of small and medium Australian biotechnology companies using an interview instrument, as well as from publicly available documentation and through observation. The results were analysed using cross-case comparisons. The results showed that an aggregation of the value chains of each organisation can be reduced to these eight definable elements that constitute the biotechnology value chain: basic research, applied research, development, verification and validation, prototype development, clinical trials, manufacturing and marketing. However, the findings also indicate that these major elements of the value chain need to be further reduced into sub-activities or sub-tasks to cater for the unique differences between biotechnology companies. Generally, the findings were consistent with the literature. However, a wider sampling, including international biotechnology organisations should be studied. The major contribution of this research is in the development of a value chain model, including general sub-tasks, for the Australian biotechnology industry.

Understanding technology integration in secondary mathematics: Theorising the role of the teacher

Previous research on computers and graphics calculators in mathematics education has examined effects on curriculum content and students’ mathematical achievement and attitudes while less attention has been given to the relationship between technology use and issues of pedagogy, in particular the impact on teachers’ professional learning in specific classroom and school environments. This observation is critical in the current context of educational policy making, where it is assumed – often incorrectly – that supplying schools with hardware and software will increase teachers’ use of technology and encourage more innovative teaching approaches. This paper reports on a research program that aimed to develop better understanding of how and under what conditions Australian secondary school mathematics teachers learn to effectively integrate technology into their practice. The research adapted Valsiner’s concepts of the Zone of Proximal Development, Zone of Free Movement and Zone of Promoted Action to devise a theoretical framework for analysing relationships between factors influencing teachers’ use of technology in mathematics classrooms. This paper illustrates how the framework may be used by analysing case studies of a novice teacher and an experienced teacher in different school settings.

Total productive maintenance implementation in the newspaper printing industry:an action research approach

The objective of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is to maximise plant and equipment effectiveness, to create a sense of ownership for operators, and promote continuous improvement through small group activities involving production, engineering and maintenance personnel. This paper describes and analyses a case study of TPM implementation at a newspaper printing house in Singapore. However, rather than adopting more conventional implementation methods such as employing consultants or through a project using external training, a unique approach was adopted based on Action Research using a spiral of cycles of planning, acting observing and reflecting. An Action Research team of company personnel was specially formed to undertake the necessary fieldwork. The team subsequently assisted with administering the resulting action plan. The main sources of maintenance and operational data were from interviews with shop floor workers, participative observation and reviews conducted with members of the team. Content analysis using appropriate statistical techniques was used to test the significance of changes in performance between the start and completion of the TPM programme. The paper identifies the characteristics associated with the Action Research method when used to implement TPM and discusses the applicability of the approach in related industries and processes.

Acceptability of Lean Six Sigma in a developing economy:results from exploratory research in Nigerian consulting companies

The application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) varies in different regions of the world in terms of both level of understanding and acceptability. Employing a qualitative methodological approach, this paper aims to explore factors hindering the acceptability of the LSS initiative in organizations and list factors required for successful application and implementation in a developing economy from the perspective of LSS consultants. Using Nigeria as a case study, primary data were collected though a number of semi-structured interviews with representatives of leading continuous improvement consultancy firms in Nigeria. Finding draws out links between major factors such as drivers and motivation, LSS performance, marketability and challenges to the acceptability and applicability of LSS in Nigeria. Further findings highlight major factors such as lack of management buy-in, level of awareness, certification driven market, Nigerian environment and culture, etc as problems that hinder successful implementation of LSS in Nigeria. This paper contributes to the theoretical foundation of critical success factors required for the implementation of Lean Six Sigma, with results from the experience of a developing economy.

Teachers' knowledge, awareness, and pedagogy of global education in secondary schools

In 1979, the Florida State Board of Education approved the teaching of global education in the state of Florida. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contributed to teachers' global knowledge, global mindedness, and pedagogy in global education. The Hanvey model of teaching from a global perspective was the theoretical framework for the study. ^ A total of 90 secondary teachers from Miami-Dade County Public Schools were randomly selected and placed in three groups: Globally Oriented Social Studies Program (GOSSE), Non-Globally Oriented Social Studies Program (non-GOSSE), and Teachers Who Teach Other Subjects (TWTOS). Seven teachers, two of whom team-taught a class, were selected for classroom observations and interviews. A mixed methods design that combined quantitative and qualitative data was used. ANOVA and Chi square techniques were used to determine whether the factors that contributed to teachers' global knowledge and global mindedness differ among groups. Classroom observations and interviews were conducted to determine whether the instructional strategies differ among the seven selected teachers. ^ The findings of the study show that teachers who were trained in teaching from a global perspective differed in their global knowledge and used more appropriate instructional strategies than teachers who were not trained in teaching global perspectives. There was no significant difference in the combined global knowledge of the non-GOSSE and TWTOS groups when compared with the GOSSE group. There was no significant difference in the combined global knowledge of the GOSSE and non-GOSSE groups when compared with the TWTOS group. There was no significant difference among the teachers in their global mindedness. Observation and interview data indicate that current events, role-playing, simulations, open-ended discussion, debates, and projects were the predominant instructional strategies used by globally trained teachers. Cable networks, Internet, magazines, and newspapers were found to be the dominant tools for teaching global education. ^ This study concluded that teachers who were trained in globally oriented programs had more global knowledge than teachers who were not. It is recommended that teacher education programs should incorporate a global perspective in the preparation of social studies teachers, with particular attention to developing their global attitudes. ^

The development of rubrics to measure undergraduate students' global awareness and global perspective: A validity study

Higher education institutions across the United States have developed global learning initiatives to support student achievement of global awareness and global perspective, but assessment options for these outcomes are extremely limited. A review of research for a global learning initiative at a large, Hispanic-serving, urban, public, research university in South Florida found a lack of instruments designed to measure global awareness and global perspective in the context of an authentic performance assessment. This quasi-experimental study explored the development of two rubrics for the global learning initiative and the extent to which evidence supported the rubrics' validity and reliability. One holistic rubric was developed to measure students' global awareness and the second to measure their global perspective. The study utilized a pretest/posttest nonequivalent group design. Multiple linear regression was used to ascertain the rubrics' ability to discern and compare average learning gains of undergraduate students enrolled in two global learning courses and students enrolled in two non-global learning courses. Parallel pretest/posttest forms of the performance task required students to respond to two open-ended questions, aligned with the learning outcomes, concerning a complex case narrative. Trained faculty raters read responses and used the rubrics to measure students' global awareness and perspective. Reliability was tested by calculating the rates of agreement among raters. Evidence supported the finding that the global awareness and global perspective rubrics yielded scores that were highly reliable measures of students' development of these learning outcomes. Chi-square tests of frequency found significant rates of inter-rater agreement exceeding the study's .80 minimum requirement. Evidence also supported the finding that the rubrics yielded scores that were valid measures of students' global awareness and global perspective. Regression analyses found little evidence of main effects; however, post hoc analyses revealed a significant interaction between global awareness pretest scores and the treatment, the global learning course. Significant interaction was also found between global perspective pretest scores and the treatment. These crossover interactions supported the finding that the global awareness and global perspective rubrics could be used to detect learning differences between the treatment and control groups as well as differences within the treatment group.

Ocean Acidification Outweighs Nutrient Effects in Structuring Seagrass Epiphyte Communities

Developing a framework for assessing interactions between multiple anthropogenic stressors remains an important goal in environmental research. In coastal ecosystems, the relative effects of aspects of global climate change (e.g. CO2 concentrations) and localized stressors (e.g. eutrophication), in combination, have received limited attention. Using a long-term (11 month) field experiment, we examine how epiphyte assemblages in a tropical seagrass meadow respond to factorial manipulations of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2(aq)) and nutrient enrichment. In situ CO2(aq) manipulations were conducted using clear, open-top chambers, which replicated carbonate parameter forecasts for the year 2100. Nutrient enrichment consisted of monthly additions of slow-release fertilizer, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), to the sediments at rates equivalent to theoretical maximum rates of anthropogenic loading within the region (1.54 g N m−2 d−1 and 0.24 g P m−2 d−1). Epiphyte community structure was assessed on a seasonal basis and revealed declines in the abundance of coralline algae, along with increases in filamentous algae under elevated CO2(aq). Surprisingly, nutrient enrichment had no effect on epiphyte community structure or overall epiphyte loading. Interactions between CO2(aq) and nutrient enrichment were not detected. Furthermore, CO2(aq)-mediated responses in the epiphyte community displayed strong seasonality, suggesting that climate change studies in variable environments should be conducted over extended time-scales. Synthesis. The observed responses indicate that for certain locations, global stressors such as ocean acidification may take precedence over local eutrophication in altering the community structure of seagrass epiphyte assemblages. Given that nutrient-driven algal overgrowth is commonly cited as a widespread cause of seagrass decline, our findings highlight that alternate climate change forces may exert proximate control over epiphyte community structure.

Teachers' knowledge, awareness, and pedagogy of global education in secondary schools

Professor Mohammed K. Farouk, Major Professor In 1979, the Florida State Board of Education approved the teaching of global education in the state of Florida. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contributed to teachers' global knowledge, global mindedness, and pedagogy in global education. The Hanvey model of teaching from a global perspective was the theoretical framework for the study. A total of 90 secondary teachers from Miami-Dade County Public Schools were randomly selected and placed in three groups: Globally Oriented Social Studies Program (GOSSE), Non-Globally Oriented Social Studies Program (non-GOSSE), and Teachers Who Teach Other Subjects (TWTOS). Seven teachers, two of whom team-taught a class, were selected for classroom observations and interviews. A mixed methods design that combined quantitative and qualitative data was used. ANOVA and Chi square techniques were used to determine whether the factors that contributed to teachers' global knowledge and global mindedness differ among groups. Classroom observations and interviews were conducted to determine whether the instructional strategies differ among the seven selected teachers. The findings of the study show that teachers who were trained in teaching from a global perspective differed in their global knowledge and used more appropriate instructional strategies than teachers who were not trained in teaching global perspectives. There was no significant difference in the combined global knowledge of the non-GOSSE and TWTOS groups when compared with the GOSSE group. There was no significant difference in the combined global knowledge of the GOSSE and non- GOSSE groups when compared with the TWTOS group. There was no significant difference among the teachers in their global mindedness. Observation and interview data indicate that current events, role-playing, simulations, open-ended discussion, debates, and projects were the predominant instructional strategies used by globally trained teachers. Cable networks, Internet, magazines, and newspapers were found to be the dominant tools for teaching global education. This study concluded that teachers who were trained in globally oriented programs had more global knowledge than teachers who were not. It is recommended that teacher education programs should incorporate a global perspective in the preparation of social studies teachers, with particular attention to developing their global attitudes.

Small-scale Fisheries and the Global Economy: Understanding Common-pool Resource Governance in the Context of Market Pressures, Neoliberal Policies, and Transnational Institutions

The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better understanding of how global seafood trade interacts with the governance of small-scale fisheries (SSFs). As global seafood trade expands, SSFs have the potential to experience significant economic, social, and political benefits from participation in export markets. At the same time, market connections that place increasing pressures on resources pose risks to both the ecological and social integrity of SSFs. This dissertation seeks to explore the factors that mediate between the potential benefits and risks of global seafood markets for SSFs, with the goal of developing hypotheses regarding these relationships.

The empirical investigation consists of a series of case studies from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. This is a particularly rich context in which to study global market connections with SSFs because the SSFs in this region engage in a variety of market-oriented harvests, most notably for octopus, groupers and snappers, lobster, and sea cucumber. Variation in market forms and the institutional diversity of local-level governance arrangements allows the dissertation to explore a number of examples.

The analysis is guided primarily by common-pool resource (CPR) theory because of the insights it provides regarding the conditions that facilitate collective action and the factors that promote long-lasting resource governance arrangements. Theory from institutional economics and political ecology contribute to the elaboration of a multi-faceted conceptualization of markets for CPR theory, with the aim of facilitating the identification of mechanisms through which markets and CPR governance actually interact. This dissertation conceptualizes markets as sets of institutions that structure the exchange of property rights over fisheries resources, affect the material incentives to harvest resources, and transmit ideas and values about fisheries resources and governance.

The case studies explore four different mechanisms through which markets potentially influence resource governance: 1) Markets can contribute to costly resource governance activities by offsetting costs through profits, 2) markets can undermine resource governance by generating incentives for noncompliance and lead to overharvesting resources, 3) markets can increase the costs of resource governance, for example by augmenting monitoring and enforcement burdens, and 4) markets can alter values and norms underpinning resource governance by transmitting ideas between local resource users and a variety of market actors.

Data collected using participant observation, survey, informal and structured interviews contributed to the elaboration of the following hypotheses relevant to interactions between global seafood trade and SSFs governance. 1) Roll-back neoliberalization of fisheries policies has undermined cooperatives’ ability to achieve financial success through engagement with markets and thus their potential role as key actors in resource governance (chapter two). 2) Different relations of production influence whether local governance institutions will erode or strengthen when faced with market pressures. In particular, relations of production in which fishers own their own means of production and share the collective costs of governance are more likely to strengthen resource governance while relations of production in which a single entrepreneur controls capital and access to the fishery are more likely to contribute to the erosion of resource governance institutions in the face of market pressures (chapter three). 3) By serving as a new discursive framework within which to conceive of and talk about fisheries resources, markets can influence norms and values that shape and constitute governance arrangements.

In sum, the dissertation demonstrates that global seafood trade manifests in a diversity of local forms and effects. Whether SSFs moderate risks and take advantage of benefits depends on a variety of factors, and resource users themselves have the potential to influence the outcomes of seafood market connections through local forms of collective action.

Market reforms and privatisation in the English National Health Service

The article examines developments in the marketisation and privatisation of the English National Health Service, primarily since 1997. It explores the use of competition and contracting out in ancillary services and the levering into public services of private finance for capital developments through the Private Finance Initiative. A substantial part of the article examines the repeated restructuring of the health service as a market in clinical services, initially as an internal market but subsequently as a market increasing opened up to private sector involvement. Some of the implications of market processes for NHS staff and for increased privatisation are discussed. The article examines one episode of popular resistance to these developments, namely the movement of opposition to the 2011 health and social care legislative proposals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these system reforms for the founding principles of the NHS and the sustainability of the service.

Naming the pain in requirements engineering: Contemporary problems, causes, and effects in practice

Requirements Engineering (RE) has received much attention in research and practice due to its importance to software project success. Its inter-disciplinary nature, the dependency to the customer, and its inherent uncertainty still render the discipline diffcult to investigate. This results in a lack of empirical data. These are necessary, however, to demonstrate which practically relevant RE problems exist and to what extent they matter. Motivated by this situation, we initiated the Naming the Pain in Requirements Engineering (NaPiRE) initiative which constitutes a globally distributed, bi-yearly replicated family of surveys on the status quo and problems in practical RE.

In this article, we report on the analysis of data obtained from 228 companies in 10 countries. We apply Grounded Theory to the data obtained from NaPiRE and reveal which contemporary problems practitioners encounter. To this end, we analyse 21 problems derived from the literature with respect to their relevance and criticality in dependency to their context, and we complement this picture with a cause-effect analysis showing the causes and effects surrounding the most critical problems.

Our results give us a better understanding of which problems exist and how they manifest themselves in practical environments. Thus, we provide a rst step to ground contributions to RE on empirical observations which, by now, were dominated by conventional wisdom only.