Local district and school report:

Vols. for -1972/73 constitute the "Third report" of the program for that year.

The structure and infrastructure of Mexico's science and technology

The structure and infrastructure of the Mexican technical literature was determined. A representative database of technical articles was extracted from the Science Citation Index for the year 2002, with each article containing at least one author with a Mexican address. Many different manual and statistical clustering methods were used to identify the structure of the technical literature (especially the science and technology core competencies). One of the pervasive technical topics identified from the clustering, thin films research, was analyzed further using bibliometrics, in order to identify the infrastructure of this technology. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Análise da problemática socioambiental de nascentes urbanas no município de Garanhuns-PE

Garanhuns City, in Pernambuco, undergoes a rapid, polluting and non-organized urban development affecting its freshwater springs around the urban environment. These sources are of great importance to the district as well as to the hydrographic basin of the Mundaú River. In this view, this paper aims at analyzing the socio-environmental problems resulting from the urban expansion surrounding the Garanhuns’ sources. The study considers the social and environmental dynamics and follows the theoretical contributions of socio-environmental geography proposed by Mendonça’s Urban Environmental System methodological and theoretical model (2004), as well as the conceptual values of Santos’ space theory (2002a). The data treatment included bibliographical and documental research, evaluation of environmental impact, and water analysis. It revealed that Garanhuns possesses many local environmental traits favoring the coming out of freshwater springs and that these sources have played an important role in the making and development of that village. The environmental impacts on freshwater springs, like Olho D’água, Bom Pastor, Vila Maria, Pau Amarelo and Pau Pombo have been evaluated through the environmental impact score IIAN. It put alight serious cases of socio-environmental impacts on the dynamics of the freshwater springs. In the period of April 2013 and April 2014, it monitored the superficial water quality expelled by the Pau Pombo, Pau Amarelo e Vila Maria water sources, and the analyses of the contents followed the determinations of the Environmental National Board, whose parameters are dissolved oxygen, biochemical demand of oxygen, nitrate, total coliforms, faecal coliforms, and electrical conductivity. The results recollected suggest the existence of organic pollution and deep alteration in the water coming out from the sources. In consequence, it seems important the putting out of measures destined to stop those impacts and guaranteeing protection and maintenance of the freshwater springs and their micro-basins.

The feasibility of determining the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of medication organisation devices compared with usual care for older people in a community setting : systematic review, stakeholder focus groups and feasibility randomised controlled trial

This project was funded by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 20, No. 50. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

The use of cardiac rehabilitation services to aid the recovery of patients with bowel cancer : a pilot randomised controlled trial with embedded feasibility study

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 4, No. 24. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

A cluster randomised trial of strategies to increase cervical screening uptake at first invitation (STRATEGIC)

This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 20, No. 68. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Third-mission policy goals and incentives from performance-based funding: Are they aligned?

In competitive knowledge-based economies, policymakers recognize the importance of universities’ engagement in third mission activities. This article investigates how a specific policy approach to encourage third mission engagement—the use of performance-based funding to reward universities’ success in this domain—aligns with the broader goals of third mission policy. Considering the case of the UK, the first country to have implemented a system of this kind, we analyse how the system has come into being and how it has evolved, and we discuss whether its implementation is likely to encourage universities to behave in ways that are aligned with the goals of third mission policy, as outlined in government documents. We argue that the system encourages universities to focus on a narrow range of income-producing third mission activities, and this is not well aligned with the policy goal to support a complex innovation ecosystem comprising universities with different third mission objectives and strategies. The article concludes by proposing possible avenues for achieving greater alignment between incentives and policy goals.

Las expectativas de los estudiantes y la calidad del servicio ofertado por la universidad de Sevilla

En este artículo se presenta un análisis diferencial de las expectativas de los estudiantes de la Universidad de Sevilla (España), en función de las ramas del conocimiento, agrupadas en las dimensiones personal, universidad, curricular y docencia. Las aportaciones han sido recogidas en un cuestionario aplicado a 1082 estudiantes de las áreas de humanidades, bio-sanitaria, económica-jurídica y científico-técnica, a través de un análisis de la varianza para la comparación de medias (asumiendo varianzas iguales y pruebas de Scheffé y Tukey). Se han contrastado los valores medios de cada rama, con el fin de determinar si las diferencias observadas resultan estadísticamente significativas. Los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto que la dimensión personal y la de universidad son valoradas de forma similar en las cuatro ramas del conocimiento; en cambio en la dimensión curricular, las expectativas son más favorables para la rama bio-sanitaria y, en la docencia para la rama de humanidades. En definitiva, los resultados presentan las fortalezas y las debilidades en las dimensiones consideradas y permiten extraer conclusiones de las que derivan indicadores de interés para la mejora de la comunidad universitaria.

La carpeta de aprendizaje y la evaluación entre iguales de los estudiantes. Resultados de una innovación docente en los estudios universitarios de las artes

Students reflect more on their learning in course subjects when they participate in managing their teaching–learning environment. As a form of guided participation, peer assessment serves the following purposes: (a) it improves the student’s understanding of previously established learning objectives; (b) it is a powerful metacognitive tool; (c) it transfers to the student part of the responsibility for assessing learning, which means deciding which learning activities are important and choosing the degree of effort a course subject will require; (d) it emphasizes the collective aspect of the nature of knowledge; and (e) the educational benefits derived from peer assessment clearly justify the efforts required to implement activities. This paper reports on the relative merits of a learning portfolio compiled during fine arts-related studies in which peer assessment played an important role. The researchers analyzed the student work load and the final marks students received for compulsory art subjects. They conclude that the use of a closed learning portfolio with a well-structured, sequential and analytical design can have a positive effect on student learning and that, although implementing peer assessment may be complex and students need to become familiar with it, its use is not only feasible but recommendable.

Developing Innovative TEL Practice in Teacher Education

This interactive symposium will focus on the use of different technologies in developing innovative practice in teacher education at one university in England. Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) is a field of educational policy and practice that has the power to ignite diametrically opposing views and reactions amongst teachers and teacher educators, ranging across a spectrum from immense enthusiasm to untold terror. In a field where the skills and experience of individuals vary from those of digital natives (Prensky 2001) to lags and lurkers in digital spaces, the challenges of harnessing the potential of TEL are complex. The challenges include developing the IT skills of trainees and educators and the creative application of these skills to pedagogy in all areas of the curriculum. The symposium draws on examples from primary, secondary and post-compulsory teacher education to discuss issues and approaches to developing research capacity and innovative practice using different etools, many of which are freely available. The first paper offers theoretical and policy perspectives on finding spaces in busy professional lives to engage in research and develop research-informed practice. It draws on notions of teachers as researchers, practitioner research and evidenc-ebased practice to argue that engagement in research is integral to teacher education and an empowering source of creative professional learning for teachers and teacher educators. Whilst acknowledging the challenges of this stance, examples from our own research practice illustrate how e-tools can assist us in building the capacity and confidence of staff and students in researching and enhancing teaching, learning and assessment practice. The second paper discusses IT skills development through the TEL pathway for trainee teachers in secondary education across different curriculum subjects. The lead tutor for the TEL pathway will use examples of activities developed with trainee teachers and university subject tutors to enhance their skills in using e-tools, such as QR codes, Kahoot, Padlet, Pinterest and cloud based learning. The paper will also focus on how these skills and tools can be used for action Discussant - the wider use of technologies in a university centre for teacher education; course management, recruitment and mentor training. research, evaluation and feedback and for marking and administrative tasks. The discussion will finish with thoughts on widening trainee teachers’ horizons into the future direction of educational technology. The third paper considers institutional policies and strategies for promoting and embedding TEL, including an initiative called ‘The Learning Conversation’, which aims ‘to share, highlight, celebrate, discuss, problematise, find things out...’ about TEL through an online space. The lead for ‘The Learning Conversation’ will offer reflections on this and other initiatives across the institution involving trainee teachers, university subject tutors, librarians and staff in student support services who are using TEL to engage, enthuse and support students on campus and during placements in schools. The fourth paper reflects on the use of TEL to engage with trainee teachers in post-compulsory education. This sector of education and training is more fragmented than primary and secondary schools sectors and so the challenges of building a community of practice that can support the development of innovative practice are greater.

Open Access in the UK Briefing on the UK Open Access Case Study

Open Access (OA) policies have been adopted at the national, institutional and funder levels in the UK and various infrastructural support mechanisms are available to facilitate open access. In July 2012, following an independent study on ‘Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications’ the UK Government announced its OA policy. The Government’s policy determines that ‘support for publication in open access or hybrid journals, funded by Article Processing Charges (APCs), [i]s the main vehicle for the publication of research’. At the same time that the UK Government announced its OA policy, the UK’s major research funder, the Research Councils UK (RCUK), revised its OA policy announcing its ‘preference for immediate [Gold] Open Access with the maximum opportunity for re-use’. In March 2014, the UK Funding Councils announced their OA policy for the post-2014 Research Evaluation Framework (REF). The policy requires the deposit of peer-reviewed article and conference proceedings in repositories (Green OA) and is applicable from 1 April 2016. By and large, two distinct OA routes are being promoted by the UK Government and RCUK (Gold OA) and the Funding Councils (Green OA). This scenario requires that continued efforts are made to ensure that advice and support are provided to universities, academic libraries and researchers on the distinct OA policies and on policy compliance. The UK research institutions have been adopting OA policies from as early as 2003 and there currently are 85 institutional OA policies. Despite distinct OA policies having been adopted by policymakers, national research funders and research institutions, the UK’s movement towards OA has been a result of stakeholders coordinated efforts and is considered to be a case of good practice.

Política do sinaes: significados e efeitos em IES privadas de minas gerais

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Educação, Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação, 2015.

Evaluationsforschung in der Musikpädagogik

Evaluationsforschung ist zu einem bedeutsamen Zweig der Bildungsforschung geworden, die Vielfalt der Beiträge zur 31. AMPF-Tagung >Evaluationsforschung in der Musikpädagogik< macht deutlich, dass die musikpädagogische Forschung hierzu einen bedeutsamen Beitrag zu liefern in der Lage ist. So zielen die Beiträge dieses Bands darauf, die Voraussetzungen, Inhalte, Methoden und Resultate von musikunterrichtlichen Reformansätzen und Innovationen im Blick auf die mit ihnen verbundenen Ziele zu überprüfen und zu bewerten, um so zu einer Verbesserung des musikbezogenen Handelns bzw. entsprechender Lehr-Lern-Prozesse zu gelangen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Changing the environment to improve population health: a framework for considering exposure in natural experimental studies

There is renewed optimism regarding the use of natural experimental studies to generate evidence as to the effectiveness of population health interventions. Natural experimental studies capitalise on environmental and policy events that alter exposure to certain social, economic or environmental factors that influence health. Natural experimental studies can be useful for examining the impact of changes to 'upstream' determinants, which may not be amenable to controlled experiments. However, while natural experiments provide opportunities to generate evidence, they often present certain conceptual and methodological obstacles. Population health interventions that alter the physical or social environment are usually administered broadly across populations and communities. The breadth of these interventions means that variation in exposure, uptake and impact may be complex. Yet many evaluations of natural experiments focus narrowly on identifying suitable 'exposed' and 'unexposed' populations for comparison. In this paper, we discuss conceptual and analytical issues relating to defining and measuring exposure to interventions in this context, including how recent advances in technology may enable researchers to better understand the nature of population exposure to changes in the built environment. We argue that when it is unclear whether populations are exposed to an intervention, it may be advantageous to supplement traditional impact assessments with observational approaches that investigate differing levels of exposure. We suggest that an improved understanding of changes in exposure will assist the investigation of the impact of complex natural experiments in population health.

Autoavaliação das competências de informação em estudantes universitários

Nas últimas décadas foram feitos grandes esforços para definir, conhecer e avaliar quais são as competências informativas que os estudantes universitários necessitam para poder progredir na sua aprendizagem e na sua inserção no mercado laboral. Apesar do argumento de que os avanços tecnológicos facilitaram o acesso à informação, existe uma preocupação constante, porque os estudantes universitários não possuem competências suficientes para gerir e usar a informação: gerem quantidades enormes de informação através da Internet, mas não sabem o que fazer com ela, como avaliá-la, de que modo devem usá-la ou aproveitá-la de forma estratégica e ética. O questionário IL-HUMASS sobre literacia da informação foi concebido e desenhado com o objetivo de avaliar competências de informação e para ser aplicado à população de estudantes, professores e profissionais da informação dos diversos níveis na área das Ciências Sociais e Humanas nas universidades espanholas e portuguesas. Contém 26 itens agrupados em quatro categorias (pesquisa, avaliação, processamento e comunicação e difusão da informação) e em três dimensões de autoavaliação (importância, autoavaliação e fonte favorita de aprendizagem). A avaliação das qualidades psicométricas do IL-HUMASS para Português foi feita numa amostra de 1.077 estudantes universitários portugueses. A análise fatorial exploratória do questionário indicou um ajustamento aceitável, apoiando a estrutura original composta por quatro categorias para cada dimensão. O IL-HUMASS apresentou características psicométricas aceitáveis de consistência interna e validade de constructo. As características psicométricas do IL-HUMASS validam a sua utilização no nosso país em estudos que requeiram a avaliação de múltiplos indicadores, apresentando-se como particularmente útil para avaliar e diagnosticar competências em literacia da informação. Conclui-se com um diagnóstico do nível de competências de informação dos estudantes universitários, destacando algumas forças e debilidades, assim como uma proposta de intervenção subjacente nas oportunidades de melhoria e de necessidades de aprendizagem.