Barriers and Motivators for Using Open Educational Resources in Schools

In an explorative study, we investigated on German schoolteachers how they use, reuse, produce and manage Open Educational Resources. The main questions in this research have been, what their motivators and barriers are in their use of Open Educational Resources, what others can learn from their Open Educational Practices, and what we can do to raise the dissemination level of OER in schools.

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Peer-reviewed

The long run development of Chile and the Natural Resources curse. Linkages, policy and growth, 1850-1950

This chapter analyses the effects of Natural Resources on the Chilean economy in the long run -1850-1950-. Specifically, the authors focus their attention on the mining cycles -nitrates and copper- and their impact on the mining activity. We also compare it with the evolution of the industry and whole economy, and how this has affected the economic growth of the country. In that sense, the industrial performance in Chile at the end of the 19th century until the Great Depression is still under debate. The optimistic view of Kirsch -1977- forehead the pessimistic view of Lagos -1966- and Palma -1979-. The new data and its analyses shows a neutral effect of the Natural Resources in the industrial development.

Identification and conservation of remnant genetic resources of brown trout in relict populations from Western Mediterranean streams

Brown trout is a cold-adapted freshwater species with restricted distribution to headwater streams in rivers of the South European peninsulas, where populations are highly vulnerable because Mediterranean regions are highly sensitive to the global climatic warming. Moreover, these populations are endangered due to the introgressive hybridization with cultured stocks. Individuals from six remnant populations in Western Mediterranean rivers were sequenced for the complete mitochondrial DNA control region and genotyped for 11 nuclear markers. Three different brown trout lineages were present in the studied region. Significant genetic divergence was observed among locations and a strong effect of genetic drift was suggested. An important stocking impact (close to 25%) was detected in the zone. Significant correlations between mitochondrial-based rates of hatchery introgression and water flow variation suggested a higher impact of stocked females in unstable habitats. In spite of hatchery introgression, all populations remained highly differentiated, suggesting that native genetic resources are still abundant. However, climatic predictions indicated that suitable habitats for the species in these rivers will be reduced and hence trout populations are highly endangered and vulnerable. Thus, management policies should take into account these predictions to design upstream refuge areas to protect remnant native trout in the region

Older consumers adopting information and communication technology: Evaluating opportunities for health care applications

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse older consumers' adoption of information and communication technology innovations, assess the effect of aging related characteristic, and evaluate older consumers' willingness to apply these technologies in health care services. This topic is considered important, because the population in Finland (as in other welfare states) is aging and thus offers a possibility for marketers, but on the other hand threatens society with increasing costs for healthcare. Innovation adoption has been under research from several aspects in both organizational and consumer research. In the consumer behaviour, several theories have been developed to predict consumer responses to innovation. The present dissertation carefully reviews previous research and takes a closer look at the theory of planned behaviour, technology acceptance model and diffusion of innovations perspective. It is here suggested that there is a possibility that these theories can be combined and complemented to predict the adoption of ICT innovations among aging consumers, taking the aging related personal characteristics into account. In fact, there are very few studies that have concentrated on aging consumers in the innovation research, and thus there was a clear indent for the present research. ICT in the health care context has been studied mainly from the organizational point of view. If the technology is thus applied for the communication between the individual end-user and service provider, the end-user cannot be shrugged off. The present dissertation uses empirical evidence from a survey targeted to 55-79 year old people from one city in Southern-Carelia. The empirical analysis of the research model was mainly based on structural equation modelling that has been found very useful on estimating causal relationships. The tested models were targeted to predict the adoption stage of personal computers and mobile phones, and the adoption intention of future health services that apply these devices for communication. The present dissertation succeeded in modelling the adoption behaviour of mobile phones and PCs as well as adoption intentions of future services. Perceived health status and three components behind it (depression, functional ability, and cognitive ability) were found to influence perception of technology anxiety. Better health leads to less anxiety. The effect of age was assessed as a control variable, in order to evaluate its effect compared to health characteristics. Age influenced technology perceptions, but to lesser extent compared to health. The analyses suggest that the major determinant for current technology adoption is perceived behavioural control, and additionally technology anxiety that indirectly inhibit adoption through perceived control. When focusing on future service intentions, the key issue is perceived usefulness that needs to be highlighted when new services are launched. Besides usefulness, the perception of online service reliability is important and affects the intentions indirectly. To conclude older consumers' adoption behaviour is influenced by health status and age, but also by the perceptions of anxiety and behavioural control. On the other hand, launching new types of health services for aging consumers is possible after the service is perceived reliable and useful.

Older people's university students in Spain: a comparison of motives and benefits between two models

This study examines both the motives for and the benefits of attending a uni- versity programme for older people (UPOP) in Spain, and how they vary with the type of UPOP. Two UPOP models were assessed: The"Older People"s Classes" of the University of Barcelona, which is organised as a lecture course, and the"University of Experience" at the University of Valencia, which is a three- or four- year variant of regular university degrees. A sample of 321 older students (mean age 67.5 years) was gathered from the two UPOPs, 161 participants from the former and 157 from the latter. The findings suggest that expressive motives such as acquiring knowledge, expanding the mind or learning for the joy of learning were the most important reasons for joining a UPOP, and that among the perceived benefits from taking classes at university featured"gaining more friends","enhanced self or life-satisfaction" and"joy in life". Perceived benefits were particularly high among the less educated and the older students. While students participating in the Older People"s Classes were older and included relatively more women, differences between the two models in motives and benefits did not exist or were slight. These results are discussed in the context of new strategies to improve university courses aimed at older students.

Competence Development and Capacity Building of Sawmill Enterprises in Kenya – A Human Resources Development Approach

The Kenyan forestry and sawmilling industry have been subject to a changing environment since 1999 when the industrial forest plantations were closed down. This has lowered raw material supply and it has affected and reduced the sawmill operations and the viability of the sawmill enterprises. The capacity of the 276 registered sawmills is not sufficient to fulfill sawn timber demand in Kenya. This is because of the technological degradation and lack of a qualified labor force, which were caused because of non-existent sawmilling education and further training in Kenya. Lack of competent sawmill workers has led to low raw material recovery, under utilization of resources and loss of employment. The objective of the work was to suggest models, methods and approaches for the competence and capacity development of the Kenyan sawmilling industry, sawmills and their workers. A nationwide field survey, interviews, questionnaire and literature review was used for data collection to find out the sawmills’ competence development areas and to suggest models and methods for their capacity building. The sampling frame included 22 sawmills that represented 72,5% of all the registered sawmills in Kenya. The results confirmed that the sawmills’ technological level was backwards, productivity low, raw material recovery unacceptable and workers’ professional education low. The future challenges will be how to establish the sawmills’ capacity building and workers’ competence development. Sawmilling industry development requires various actions through new development models and approaches. Activities should be started for technological development and workers’ competence development. This requires re-starting of vocational training in sawmilling and the establishment of more effective co-operation between the sawmills and their stakeholder groups. In competence development the Enterprise Competence Management Model of Nurminen (2007) can be used, whereas the best training model and approach would be a practically oriented learning at work model in which the short courses, technical assistance and extension services would be the key functions.

El cuidado de los ancianos en el entorno familiar : valoración de los recursos de apoyo mediante grupos de discusión

Introduction: in the present study several collectives with knowledge of the reality of family care of the elderly assessed several socia and healthcare resources and suggested several possibilities for improvement. Method: four discussion groups were used as a data collection technique. The groups were composed of caregivers, representatives-users of associations for the elderly, experts in geriatrics, and social services professionals. Results: the various discussion groups positively evaluated the Home Help Service, the Support Teams of the Home Service Programs, Interdisciplinary Community Health Workers Units, Daytime Care Centres, and the Family Rest Programme but suggested some changes to all of them. The discussion groups also indicated the need to improve the material, economic and emotional assistance given to caregivers and asked for training, institutional coordination, anddissemination of information about available resources and assistance. Conclusions: some changes are required to improve the current social and health resources available to families caring for the elderly within the family unit. Among the suggestions for improvement proposed by the participants, many are useful and could easily be applied, whereas others provide an interesting starting point for debate and reflection. Knowledge and understanding of the situation of caregiving families, based on their own experiences and those of the people who know them, is in itself sufficient to initiate and implement changes to provide resources appropriate to their needs

Impact of multimorbidity on disability and quality of life in the spanish older population

BACKGROUND: Population aging is closely related to high prevalence of chronic conditions in developed countries. In this context, health care policies aim to increase life span cost-effectively while maintaining quality of life and functional ability. There is still, however, a need for further understanding of how chronic conditions affect these health aspects. The aim of this paper is to assess the individual and combined impact of chronic physical and mental conditions on quality of life and disability in Spain, and secondly to show gender trends. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were collected from the COURAGE study. A total of 3,625 participants over 50 years old from Spain were included. Crude and adjusted multiple linear regressions were conducted to detect associations between individual chronic conditions and disability, and between chronic conditions and quality of life. Separate models were used to assess the influence of the number of diseases on the same variables. Additional analogous regressions were performed for males and females. RESULTS: All chronic conditions except hypertension were statistically associated with poor results in quality of life and disability. Depression, anxiety and stroke were found to have the greatest impact on outcomes. The number of chronic conditions was associated with substantially lower quality of life [β for 4+ diseases: -18.10 (-20.95,-15.25)] and greater disability [β for 4+ diseases: 27.64 (24.99,30.29]. In general, women suffered from higher rates of multimorbidity and poorer results in quality of life and disability. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic conditions impact greatly on quality of life and disability in the older Spanish population, especially when co-occurring diseases are added. Multimorbidity considerations should be a priority in the development of future health policies focused on quality of life and disability. Further studies would benefit from an expanded selection of diseases. Policies should also deal with gender idiosyncrasy in certain cases.

'No country for old men?' Analyzing older people s attitudes toward mobile communication

Mobile technology plays an increasing role in interpersonal communication,representing a useful resource for different age cohorts. While the usage ofmobile communication by younger people has received a wide attention fromcommunication scholars, its usage by older people is less explored. Thegoal of our research project is to analyse the usage of mobile phones by theelderly in Italy. We conducted 51 semi-structured interviews in Rome and in amid-range town located in Umbria, between October 2013 and February 2014.Our study explores older users¿ motivations and usage practices, their perceptions of mobile phones, theiradoption and domestication of mobile phones, their usage skills. More specifically,our analysis focuses on: - personal characteristics - personal networks (personalnetwork composition, self-perceived social life, communication channels) -adoption of mobile telephone - consumption patterns of mobile devices - usedmobile services - location and mobility of mobile telephone - current mobilecharacteristics - attitude and opinions towards mobile technology Our preliminaryresults show major differences in users¿ behaviours and perceptions, that canbe related to age cohorts (younger olds vs older olds); socio-cultural levels;vital trajectories (in terms of professional and familiar status); and gender.

Indicadores sociales y psicosociales de calidad de vida de las personas mayores en un municipio = Social and psychosocial quality of life indicators of older persons in a municipality

A research about the quality of life of the older persons of a municipality starting from the analysis of the perceptions, evaluations and expectations related to concrete spheres of their lives (familiar characteristics, housing, health, nearby environment, activities, needs and dependencies and persons helping them to satisfy needs) is presented. Answers to 1988 questionnaires obtained from two representative samples of older per - sons living in private homes in the city have been analysed: persons over 65 years old and a specific one composed by a sub-sample of the general one, with persons over 75 years living alone. Data shaping contextual indicators related to housing have been analysed. The auto - nomy to drive and the evaluation of on’s health seem to be positive indicators to take in account while sutying quality of life at these ages. Sentinel indicators of the physical and relational conditions in the family and indicators of dependency are analysed as well. The evaluations of the older persons about their own life conditions are also analysed through psychosocial indicators connected to housing, nearby environmenent, their activities andincomes. The results obtained are applicable in order to improve the decision making process in social intervention programmes developed in the field of ageing aiming to take into account their perspectives

Impacts of climate change on water resources in the Mediterranean basin : a case study in Catalonia, Spain

Most climate change projections show important decreases in water availability in the Mediterranean region by the end of this century. We assess those main climate change impacts on water resources in three medium-sized catchments with varying climatic conditions in north-eastern Spain. A combination of hydrological modelling and climate projections with B1 and A2 IPCC emission scenarios is performed to infer future stream flows. The largest reduction (22-48% for 2076-2100) of stream flows is expected in the headwaters of the two wettest catchments, while lower decreases (22-32% for 2076-2100) are expected in the drier one. In all three catchments, autumn and summer are the seasons with the most notable projected decreases in stream flow, 50% and 34%, respectively (2076-2100). Thus, ecological flows might be noticeably impacted by climate change in the catchments, especially in the headwaters of those wet catchments.