bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Governance and Technologies of Surveillance
Authors: Sarikakis Katharine , Ganter Sarah Anne
Published: December 2017

Although new technologies can serve as tools for creating an environment of equal opportunities and empowerment, they also reflect and reinforce an offline gendered social order. The paper examines the emergence of new cultures of control based on technological designs that support infringements of privacy and new practices of surveillance and argues that technologies left unchecked constitute tools for new forms of surveillance and control of women´s lives. These under-researched issues are mapped and international policy initiatives are discussed against this matrix. It discusses whether and in which ways policies adequately recognise gender based practices and impacts of these developments by interrogating the nexus of gender, privacy and surveillance in the digital age.
Transmedia Storytelling Initiatives in Brazilian Media
Authors: Gambarato Renira Rampazzo , Alzamora Geane Carvalho
Published: December 2017

This paper is presented in order to understand the evolution of media dynamics in Brazil and investigate its perspectives for the future. Brazil, among the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), will be our focus. From a mono-mediatic paradigm to a convergent one, Brazil is developing new practices in fictional and non-fictional media. Our hypothesis is that the transmedia storytelling strategy is both the reality – although still timid – and the most probable future scenario for media development in Brazil. We can assert that transmedia storytelling is a tendency. Therefore, we will explore examples of transmedia storytelling initiatives in Brazilian media mainly related to journalism, entertainment, branding and advertisement.
The Changing Face of the German Broadcast Television Industry
Authors: Murschetz Paul
Published: December 2017

This study offers an economic analysis of the television broadcasting industry at the convergence of broadcast and broadband connectivity. It applies the „Structure-Conduct- Performance“(SCP)-paradigm of Industrial Organization theory as framework and investigates how the model can contribute to explaining emergent issues in the economics of Smart TV. It is argued here that SCP model provides a useful heuristic and can fruitfully be applied to various questions surrounding the fundamental transformation of the television broadcasting sector towards Smart TV, notably issues of market structure and competitive behavior. The argument is illustrated by the emerging ecosystem for Smart TV services in Germany. There, the market is still immature and each provider is struggling with the challenge of developing an optimal strategy and organizational form in the Smart TV ecosystem.
Producers’ Dilemma
Authors: Krainer Larissa
Published: December 2017

Die Mediatisierung der Gesellschaft zwingt in das Dispositiv der Vernetzung und der Partizipation. Daraus resultiert eine Vielzahl von Widersprüchen, die Produser in Dilemma führen (können) und die balanciert werden müssen. Dazu zählen etwa die folgenden: Permanenz-Impermanenz, Vernetzung-Vereinzelung, Zeitgewinn-Zeitverlust, Fiktion-Realität, Informationsfülle-Informationsleere, Kontrollverlust-Kontrollbedarf. Digitale Medien machen aus allen Vernetzten Nutzende wie Benutzte. Aus prozessethischer Perspektive stellt sich die Frage, wie mit den Widersprüchen verfahren werden kann, welche individuell bearbeitet werden können und welche auf der Ebene von Organisationen oder Institutionen angesiedelt sein müssen. Dabei wird zunächst deutlich, dass User keine Profession darstellen, wie sie von Professionsethiken (z. B. für JournalistInnen) adressiert werden. Aspekte aus der Rezeptionsethik können hingegen Anwendung finden (Selbstverantwortung). Auf der Ebene der Organisationen rücken soziale Netzwerke (z. B. Facebook) in den Blick, aber auch Schulen wie traditionelle Medien. Ferner zeigt sich auf institutioneller Ebene rechtlicher Regulierungsbedarf.
The Results of the Third All-Russian Competition «Librarian of the Year - 2015»
Authors: Meshcheryakova Victoria V.
Published: December 2017

The article is devoted to the results of the 3rd All-Russian Competition “Librarian of the Year - 2015”, held in the Year of Literature by the Russian Library Association and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In Competition there participated 184 employees of the municipal public libraries from 52 regions of Russia. The Co-chairs of the judging panel - Vladimir Firsov, President of the Russian Library Association, and E.N. Guseva, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Science - Head of Department of Libraries and Archives of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, - have summarized the results of the Competition and announced the Winner in December, 2015 at the official ceremony in the framework of the 5th All-Russian Forum of Public Libraries in St. Petersburg.
Quality of Reading of Sector-Based Literature: Criterion-Oriented Approach
Authors: Borodina Valentina A.
Published: December 2017

The article considers such notions as “Quality of Reading”, “Criterion”, “Sector-Based Literature”, “Motivation”, and “Efficiency”. There is described the system of criteria of reading of sector-based literature in accordance with the cluster principle, as well as their integration into the library and information services. The criteria of quality of reading are proved as ties of social and personal socialization of readers. There is outlined the possibility of transition of reading skills “from information to knowledge and to the methodology of acquisition of knowledge” in the context of reader’s socialization as strategy of life and education.
Research and Methodical Development in the Library Sphere: Modern Trends
Authors: Akilina Maria I.
Published: December 2017

The article examines the current stage of scientific and methodical development in the field of librarianship. There are identified the new trends in the directions, forms, organizational structure of the methodical work. There is analyzed the methodical practice of federal and regional methodical centres.
Book Editions of the Samara Germans of the second half of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries in the Collections of the Central Libraries of Russia
Authors: Kurmaev Mikhail V.
Published: December 2017

The research reveals the features of the development of the German-language book publishing in Samara in the second half of 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries. There was analyzed the publishing activities of certain associations, enterprises and individuals, connected with the Evangelical Lutheran community of St. George. The author proves that the Samara German language book publishing used the printing houses of other regions. There is provided information on book production of Samara Germans, preserved in the holdings of the Russian State Library, National Library of Russia and Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
On the New Methodological Approaches to the Study of Library Sector in the Region
Authors: Kolesnikova Marina N.
Published: December 2017

The collective monograph by S.Yu. Volzhenina, S.S. Guzner, L.A. Kozhevnikova “Library sector in the socio-economic system of region: methodology and methods of performance evaluation” (Novosibirsk, 2015) discusses the problems of theory and methodology of economics of library activities. The impetus for conducting the study was the need to identify the new approaches to the analysis of the status and development of librarianship in the region in the framework of the subject of the Russian Federation. The book presents the new solutions to one of the most complex problems of librarianship. There are substantiated the new terms: “Library Sector”, “Regional Library Sector”, “Regional Library Cluster”. There is described the model system of indicators and indices for assessing the activity of libraries and the method of determination of assessment of their contribution to the social production of the region. The model is tested and endorsed on the basis of library sector of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region - Ugra.
A consciência da definição e utilização de estratégias de desenvolvimento sustentável de acordo com os gestores de organizações públicas no Brasil
Authors: Sampaio Danilo De Oliveira , Plácido Eliel Carlos Rosa
Published: December 2017

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar o conhecimento dos gestores e dirigentes de empresas públicas brasileiras sobre o significado de desenvolvimento sustentável. O estudo foi realizado entre abril e outubro de 2014 na cidade de Juiz de Fora, no estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. A pesquisa foi do tipo descritiva e exploratória com viés qualitativo. A coleta de dados respeitou as cinco variáveis teóricas (meio ambiente natural, sociedade, economia, consumo sustentável e variável institucional) propostas por Elkington (1987; 1999), García (2010) e Dresner (2002), sendo entrevistados sete gestores públicos, utilizando-se um roteiro semiestruturado. Foram analisados os discursos e falas dos gestores por meio de estatística descritiva e análise de conteúdo. Verificou-se que o conhecimento sobre o desenvolvimento sustentável dos gestores das organizações públicas brasileiras entrevistadas é parcialmente compreendido e pouco incentivado aos funcionários e sociedade. Notou-se a necessidade de instruir e capacitar os gestores sobre o significado de desenvolvimento sustentável e como implementar planos de ação respeitando as demandas dos cidadãos. Acredita-se que as estratégias para apoiar as aspirações sociais, econômicas e ambientais devem estar presentes com maior ênfase na gestão das organizações públicas brasileiras pesquisadas. Assim, atender as demandas da sociedade e proporcionar uma melhor qualidade vida são metas que o setor público brasileiro deve priorizar.
A culinária tradicional diamantinense como atrativo turístico: uma nova possibilidade
Authors: Zaidan Mariana Costa , Ottoni Fernando Guimarães Esteves
Published: December 2017

Buscando ferramentas de utilização da atividade turística como oportunidade de inclusão, de aumento da renda e do bem-estar social foi elaborada a proposta do I Festival de Gastronomia de Diamantina e Distritos. Uma pesquisa desenvolvida pela Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri identificou e catalogou mais de trezentas receitas, incluindo pratos que datam da primeira metade do século XX. Os resultados dessa pesquisa foram considerados como base para a organização do Festival, que foi desenvolvido em comunidades rurais em situação de vulnerabilidade social. Baseado em reflexões sobre turismo gastronômico, participação comunitária e sobre as possibilidades de alcance do turismo para o desenvolvimento local, este trabalho visa investigar os resultados da realização do I Festival Gastronômico de Diamantina e Distritos. Para cumprir tal objetivo, foi realizada pesquisa teórica sobre os aspectos da gastronomia local, turismo rural e turismo gastronômico e pesquisa empírica durante a realização dos eventos, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com moradores dos distritos e com os visitantes A culinária tradicional diamantinense como atrativo turístico: uma nova possibilidade 2 Marketing & Tourism Review • Belo Horizonte - MG - Brasil • v. 1, n. 2, 2016 NEECIM TUR • Núcleo de Estudos e Estratégias em Comunicação Integrada de Marketing e Turismo • UFMG do evento. Após a finalização do projeto foi também aplicado um método de avaliação participativa em grupo, onde os participantes do evento estabeleceram os critérios a serem avaliados. A pesquisa realizada durante o projeto teve a intenção verificar se o mesmo contribuiu para valorização da tradição culinária e da produção associada ao turismo, promovendo o desenvolvimento socioeconômico da região de Diamantina. As pesquisas revelaram que o projeto teve impactos socioeconômicos significativos nos distritos, diversos ingredientes e receitas tradicionais foram apresentados durante os eventos, as comunidades participaram de forma ativa, artistas locais e grupos de cultura popular fizeram suas apresentações e os impactos econômicos gerados foram positivos, durante os eventos houve a comercialização de cerca de cem mil reais. Entretanto é preciso destacar que a geração de renda apesar de positiva ocorreu de forma pontual em um período do ano.
Relações étnico-raciais e questões do mercado de trabalho em turismo
Authors: Costa Ricardo Dias da
Published: December 2017

Esta comunicação, que tem um caráter exploratório, visa discutir a relação entre cursos de Turismo, relações étnico-raciais e questões do mercado de trabalho em turismo. O tema é pouco abordado pelos pesquisadores da área, o que torna esta temática instigante e desafiadora. Os cursos de graduação em Turismo, que estão em atividade no Brasil nas instituições públicas de ensino superior, foram criados para tender a uma demanda do mercado nacional. As novas modalidades de acesso a estas instituições trouxe um cenário novo para elas quanto para o mercado de trabalho, haja visto que o perfil dos egressos dos cursos mudou principalmente em função da Lei Federal 12.711/2012, mais conhecida como “Lei de cotas”. O trabalho apresentado é fruto de pesquisas bibliográficas e de campo, sendo que para tal foi utilizada a ferramenta do Google drive para sua realização junto ao corpo discente do curso.
7. Instagram como ferramenta para fidelização de clientes: Fotografia, Redes Sociais e Turismo
Authors: Alves Francineuma Gomes , Costa Hugo Sampaio , Perinotto André Riani Costa
Published: December 2017

O presente artigo tem o objetivo identificar como as postagens no Instagram do Shopping RioMar de Fortaleza colaboram para fidelização de clientes para o empreendimento, assim como, se o turismo no estado Ceará é impulsionado por tal estratégia. Para tanto, a metodologia utilizada foi o levantamento bibliográfico, pesquisa netnográfica verificado as postagens da hashtag BomDia, assim como aplicação de questionários com os seguidores para aprofundar as análises, ao compreender a relação entre fotografias, mídias sociais e turismo. Verificou-se que o Instagram é visto como um diferencial competitivo pelo público alvo do shopping, e contribui efetivamente para fidelização de clientes, através da construção positiva da imagem do equipamento.
8. Paisagem Sensorial e Turismo: Estudo sobre as Percepções dos Turistas em Cidade Patrimônio Cultural da Humanidade no Brasil
Authors: Santos Saulo Ribeiro dos , Da Silva Gisele Polanski França , Maia Luana Ferreira , De Souza Neto Valério Rodrigues , Da Silva Saulo Rondinelli Xavier
Published: December 2017

A percepção sobre a paisagem sensorial é mediada por meio dos sentidos, e esses estímulos externos e a interação do homem com o lugar, promovem experiências individuais relacionadas a sentimentos e memórias. Essa representatividade social e cultural tem poder de conotação turística, pois, há uma apropriação da paisagem como um produto turístico. Nesta perspectiva, este estudo tem como objetivo compreender a sensação do turista quanto aos cinco sentidos relacionando-os à paisagem dos produtos típicos comercializados na Feira da Praia Grande em São Luís (Maranhão). Quanto à metodologia, utilizou-se dados bibliográficos e documentais, específicos nas áreas de paisagem, patrimônio histórico e turismo cultural. Para coleta de dados, fez-se pesquisa de campo, no período de agosto a setembro de 2016, mediante aplicação de questionários, com perguntas baseadas na concepção de Tuan (2012), com turistas, para compreender as percepções sensoriais provocadas por essa paisagem. Analisou-se quantitativamente os conteúdos das entrevistas, que foram tabuladas, transcritas e analisadas. Entre os principais resultados, identificou-se que a paisagem sensorial pode ser utilizada como recurso turístico, quanto aos produtos típicos comercializados na Feira da Praia Grande. Conclui-se que há possibilidades de estudos acerca das inúmeras paisagens sensoriais existentes na cidade de São Luís e também o exercício de novas atividades turísticas no centro histórico, a fim de valorizar o patrimônio cultural imaterial.
Central Office Supports for Data-Driven Talent Management Decisions
Authors: Grissom Jason A. , Rubin Mollie , Neumerski Christine M. , Cannata Marisa , Drake Timothy A. , Goldring Ellen , Schuermann Patrick
Published: December 2017

School districts increasingly push school leaders to utilize multiple measures of teacher effectiveness, such as observation ratings or value-added scores, in making talent management decisions, including teacher hiring, assignment, support, and retention, but we know little about the local conditions that promote or impede these processes. We investigate the barriers to principals’ use of teacher effectiveness measures in eight urban districts and charter management organizations that are investing in new systems for collecting such measures and making them available to school leaders and the supports central offices are building to help principals overcome those barriers. Interviews with more than 175 central and school leaders identify barriers in three main areas related to accessing measures, analyzing them, and taking action based on their analysis. Supports fall into four categories: professional development, connecting principals to sources of expertise, creating new structures or tools, and building a data use culture. Survey analysis suggests that indeed principals in high support systems perceive lower barriers to data use and report greater incorporation of teacher effectiveness measures into their talent management decisions.
Dual Credit, College Type, and Enhanced Degree Attainment
Authors: Blankenberger Bob , Lichtenberger Eric , Witt M. Allison
Published: December 2017

In this study, we analyzed data for the Illinois high school class of 2003 to determine the impact of dual credit participation on postsecondary attainment. We matched 8,095 dual credit participants to an equal number of nonparticipants within the same high school at the point of postsecondary enrollment using propensity scores calculated through a two-level hierarchical generalized linear model with college type as a posttreatment adjustment. Results indicate that community college students taking dual credit were significantly more likely to obtain a baccalaureate degree (28% to 19%, respectively) than their matched peers who did not participate in dual credit. We found similar improvements in postsecondary degree attainment for students attending colleges at multiple selectivity levels, although the largest and most robust effects were found for students starting at community colleges and at non/less competitive entry institutions.
Thirteenth AnnualBrownLecture in Education Research: Public Education and the Social Contract: Restoring the Promise in an Age of Diversity and Division
Authors: Tienda Marta
Published: December 2017

Building on the premise that closing achievement gaps is an economic imperative both to regain international educational supremacy and to maintain global economic competitiveness, I ask whether it is possible to rewrite the social contract so that education is a fundamental right—a statutory guarantee—that is both uniform across states and federally enforceable. I argue that the federal government was complicit in aggravating educational inequality by not guaranteeing free, public education as a basic right during propitious political moments; by enabling the creation of a segregated public higher education system; by relegating the Department of Education and its predecessors to a secondary status in the federal administration, thereby compromising its enforcement capability; and by proliferating incremental reforms while ignoring the unequal institutional arrangements that undermine equal opportunity to learn. History shows that a strong federal role can potentially strengthen the educational social contract.
Connecting the Present to the Past
Authors: Baker Doris Luft , Basaraba Deni Lee , Polanco Paul
Published: December 2017

The authors of this chapter review empirical studies that have been conducted in bilingual education to propose a future research agenda that incorporates the most recent evidence on the effectiveness of bilingual programs, advances in neuroscience, and the body of evidence of the benefits of being bilingual and biliterate. They first describe the historical and sociopolitical precedent of how bilingual education came to play a determinant role in U.S. education. Next, they summarize reviews that have been conducted examining the effects of bilingual education on the academic performance of English learners from 1985 until 2003. They then review the research on bilingual education since 2003. Although the majority of studies reviewed focused on reading, the authors also found studies that compared the effects of bilingual programs on other academic outcomes such as writing, science, and mathematics, inside and outside the United States. In addition, they address the benefits of bilingualism on cognition and discuss the research on cross-linguistic transfer to help the reader better understand the transfer of skills between the native language and the second language within the context of bilingual programs. They end the chapter with recommendations for future research.
Making the Visible Invisible
Authors: Powers Jeanne M. , Fischman Gustavo E. , Berliner David C.
Published: December 2017

The year 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the American Educational Research Association and the 50th anniversary of the publication of Equality of Educational Opportunity, known as the Coleman Report. These key moments in the field’s history ushered in important paradigm shifts in the practice of education research; in how the relationships among poverty, inequality, and schooling were understood; and in the research-policy nexus. This conceptual synthesis of the history of education research in the United States is focused on poverty knowledge in both periods. The authors trace the rise of education as a field of study, the place of poverty in the emergent science of education, and the extent to which leading researchers have acknowledged, analyzed, or contested poverty. The Coleman Report advanced a new paradigm for analysis while being firmly rooted in earlier traditions. Coleman’s analytical approach has become common sense in educational policymaking in the form of the accountability movement. The report’s fundamental insights about the relationship between poverty and student achievement too often remain unacknowledged by U.S. policymakers.
The Metatheoretical Assumptions of Literacy Engagement
Authors: Hruby George G. , Burns Leslie D. , Botzakis Stergios , Groenke Susan L. , Hall Leigh A. , Laughter Judson , Allington Richard L.
Published: December 2017

In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors examined the historical succession of theoretical frameworks on students’ active participation in their own literacy learning, and in particular the metatheoretical assumptions that justify those frameworks. The authors used motivation and engagement as focal topics by which to trace this history because of their conceptual proximity to active literacy participation. They mapped the uses of motivation and engagement in the major literacy journals and handbooks over the past century, constructed a grounded typology of theoretical assumptions about literate agency and its development to code those uses, and reviewed similar histories of theoretical frameworks in educational, psychological, philosophical, and literary scholarship to draft a narrative history of the emergence of engaged literacies.
Implementation Research
Authors: Century Jeanne , Cassata Amy
Published: December 2017

Over many decades, educators have developed countless interventions and theories about how to create lasting change. Implementation research is the study of these efforts with a set of basic questions: What are we doing? Is it working? For whom? Where? When? How? And, Why? In other words, implementation research is an endeavor to understand if and how educational efforts are accomplishing their goals. This chapter describes the landscape of implementation research, tracing it back to its historical roots and connecting it to other fields with the aim of identifying common threads across diverse efforts. The authors survey where the field is today and highlight different perspectives on complex questions that have long troubled researchers. They outline some of the sticky issues ahead and make a case for shared conceptual clarity and clearly communicated and understood language that will help researchers understand how various bodies of implementation research work are related. The authors conclude by describing the opportunity presented to the education research community in this moment: to capitalize on and learn from historical and contemporary work in education and other fields, and to identify connections across theories and approaches and find ways to collectively move forward toward the shared goal of making education better.
The Question of School Resources and Student Achievement
Authors: Hedges Larry V. , Pigott Terri D. , Polanin Joshua R. , Ryan Ann Marie , Tocci Charles , Williams Ryan T.
Published: December 2017

One question posed continually over the past century of education research is to what extent school resources affect student outcomes. From the turn of the century to the present, a diverse set of actors, including politicians, physicians, and researchers from a number of disciplines, have studied whether and how money that is provided for schools translates into increased student achievement. The authors discuss the historical origins of the question of whether school resources relate to student achievement, and report the results of a meta-analysis of studies examining that relationship. They find that policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders have addressed this question using diverse strategies. The way the question is asked, and the methods used to answer it, is shaped by history, as well by the scholarly, social, and political concerns of any given time. The diversity of methods has resulted in a body of literature too diverse and too inconsistent to yield reliable inferences through meta-analysis. The authors suggest that a collaborative approach addressing the question from a variety of disciplinary and practice perspectives may lead to more effective interventions to meet the needs of all students.
Constructing and Reconstructing the “Rural School Problem”
Authors: Biddle Catharine , Azano Amy Price
Published: December 2017

This chapter examines 100 years of rural education research in the context of the demographic, migratory, economic, and social changes that have affected rural America in the past century. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature on rural teacher recruitment, retention, and training as a case study to examine the constancy and change in the construction of the “rural school problem,” a concept drawn from early work by urban education reformers. They found that attention to rurality as a factor affecting education boomed in the first half of the 20th century thanks to a commitment to achieving a kind of modernity, an emphasis that waned in the second half of that century when modernity was believed to have been more or less achieved. Neoliberal economic policies and the precariousness of rural economies revived interest in the resilience and adaptability of rural America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, leading to a renaissance in rural education research but one largely restricted to a few subfield journals. The authors discuss the implications of these trends for the future of rural education research, including the use of place as a lens for considering education.
The Federal Role in Education and the Rise of Social Science Research
Authors: Beadie Nancy
Published: December 2017

Studies of the rise of social science research in education typically focus on the Progressive Era, from 1890 to 1930, the period in which the American Educational Research Association (AERA) was founded. As central as this story is to the intellectual history of education as a field, however, it obscures an earlier set of events that arguably is even more important to understanding why AERA and the larger progressive education research enterprise of which it was a part developed when and how they did. That episode was the major but ultimately failed effort of the 1870s and 1880s to establish a national education system in the United States. This chapter focuses on the use of social science research in this earlier episode of education reform. It reveals how the rise of education research during the Progressive Era, and ultimately the founding of AERA, responded to the failure of this earlier effort in multiple ways. More precisely, it shows how social science research in education developed historically in relation to the peculiarly decentralized and racialized structure of education authority and policy in the United States.
Advancing the Science and Practice of Social and Emotional Learning
Authors: Osher David , Kidron Yael , Brackett Marc , Dymnicki Allison , Jones Stephanie , Weissberg Roger P.
Published: December 2017

This chapter summarizes the results of nearly 100 years of research on school-based social and emotional learning (SEL). The SEL field has grown out of research in many fields and subfields with which educators, researchers, and policymakers are familiar, including the promotion of social competence, bullying prevention, prevention of drug use and abuse, civic and character education, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, social skills training, and 21st-century skills. The chapter begins with a historical summary of theoretical movements and research trends that have led to today’s inclusion of SEL as part of many schools’ curricula, policies, and practices. Contemporary approaches that represent current policy and societal concerns are discussed in comparative terms. Based on the converging research evidence, this chapter identifies design elements and implementation quality characteristics of effective approaches to SEL. Recommendations for future practice, policy, and research are provided.
The Political Economy of Market-Based Educational Policies
Authors: Scott Janelle , Holme Jennifer Jellison
Published: December 2017

The authors situate the emergence and effects of contemporary market-based reforms within a framework of urban political economy that centers on racial inequality. They discuss how and why market-based reforms have evolved alongside racialized political and economic trends that have transformed cities over the past century, and they critically evaluate the research literature in light of such trends. The authors argue that deterioration of the urban core’s infrastructure, schools, and housing has created ripe conditions for market-oriented reforms to take root. They also argue that these reforms have exacerbated divides in increasingly unequal and bifurcated cities. The authors conclude that these intersections and interactions between market-based reforms and urban contexts must be addressed by policy and research.
Classroom Conversations in the Study of Race and the Disruption of Social and Educational Inequalities: A Review of Research
Authors: Brown Ayanna F. , Bloome David , Morris Jerome E. , Power-Carter Stephanie , Willis Arlette I.
Published: December 2017

This review of research examines classroom conversations about race with a theoretical framing oriented to understanding how such conversations may disrupt social and educational inequalities. The review covers research on how classroom conversations on race contribute to students’ and educators’ understandings of a racialized society, their construction of and reflection on relationships among students, as well as to their learning of academic content knowledge. The review considers research across grades P–12, as well as conversations in teacher education, with a specific focus on the U.S. context. Limiting the review to the U.S. context is done not to obfuscate conceptions of race and inequalities globally, but to elucidate how race becomes manifested in unique ways in the United States—often positioning African Americans and Blackness as the “fundamental other.” The review offers a social, historical, and political discussion that contextualizes how classroom conversations, and their omission, are not conversations only relegated to the classroom, but are part of a larger dialogue within the broader society.
Toward a New Understanding of Community-Based Education: The Role of Community-Based Educational Spaces in Disrupting Inequality for Minoritized Youth
Authors: Baldridge Bianca J. , Beck Nathan , Medina Juan Carlos , Reeves Marlo A.
Published: December 2017

Community-based educational spaces (CBES; afterschool programs, community-based youth organizations, etc.) have a long history of interrupting patterns of educational inequity and continue to do so under the current educational policy climate. The current climate of education, marked by neoliberal education restructuring, has left community-based educational spaces vulnerable in many of the same ways as public schools. Considering the current political moment of deep insecurity within public education, this review of research illuminates the role community-based educational spaces have played in resisting forms of educational inequality and their role in the lives of minoritized youth. With a review of seminal education research on community-based spaces, we intend to capture the ways these diverse out-of-school spaces inform the educational experiences, political identity development, and organizing and activist lives of minoritized youth. Further, this piece contends that reimagining education beyond the borders of the school is a form of resistance, as community-based leaders, youth workers, and youth themselves negotiate the dialectical nature of community-based educational spaces within a capitalist and racialized neoliberal state.
Leveraging Students’ Communicative Repertoires as a Tool for Equitable Learning
Authors: Martinez Danny C. , Morales P. Zitlali , Aldana Ursula S.
Published: December 2017

Leveraging is often described as the process of using the home and community languages of children and youth as a tool to access the “academic” or “standard” varieties of languages valued in schools. In this vein, researchers have called on practitioners to leverage the stigmatized language practices of children and youth in schools for their academic development. In this review, we interrogate the notion of leveraging commonly used by language and literacy scholars. We consider what gets leveraged, whose practices get leveraged, when leveraging occurs, and whether or not leveraging leads to robust and transformative learning experiences that sustain the cultural and linguistic practices of children and youth in our schools, particularly for students of color. We review scholarship steeped in Vygotskian-inspired research on learning, culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogies, and bilingual education research that forefront the notion that the language practices of children and youth are useful for mediating learning and development. We conclude with a discussion of classroom discourse analysis methods that we believe can provide documentation of transformative learning experiences that uncovers and examines the linguistic resources of students in our twenty-first-century classrooms, and to gain a common language around notions of leveraging in the field.
Exposure to Same-Race Teachers and Student Disciplinary Outcomes for Black Students in North Carolina
Authors: Lindsay Constance A. , Hart Cassandra M. D.
Published: December 2017

Using student-level administrative data from North Carolina, we explore whether exposure to same-race teachers affects the rate at which Black students receive exclusionary discipline, such as out-of-school suspensions, in-school suspensions, and expulsion. We find consistent evidence that exposure to same-race teachers is associated with reduced rates of exclusionary discipline for Black students. This relationship holds for elementary, middle, and high school grade ranges for male and female students, and for students who do and do not use free and reduced-price lunch. Although we find reductions in referrals for a number of different types of offenses, we find particularly consistent evidence that exposure to same-race teachers lowers office referrals for willful defiance across all grade levels, suggesting that teacher discretion plays a role in driving our results.
Multiple Imputation Under Violated Distributional Assumptions: A Systematic Evaluation of the Assumed Robustness of Predictive Mean Matching
Authors: Kleinke Kristian
Published: December 2017

Predictive mean matching (PMM) is a standard technique for the imputation of incomplete continuous data. PMM imputes an actual observed value, whose predicted value is among a set of k ≥ 1 values (the so-called donor pool), which are closest to the one predicted for the missing case. PMM is usually better able to preserve the original distribution of the empirical data than fully parametric multiple imputation (MI) approaches, when empirical data deviate from their distributional assumptions. Use of PMM is therefore especially worthwhile in situations where model assumptions of fully parametric MI procedures are violated and where fully parametric procedures would yield highly implausible estimates. Unfortunately, today there are only a handful of studies that systematically tested the robustness of PMM and it is still widely unknown where exactly the limits of this procedure lie. I examined the performance of PMM in situations where data were skewed to varying degrees, under different sample sizes, missing data percentages, and using different settings of the PMM approach. It was found that small donor pools overall yielded better results than large donor pools and that PMM generally worked well, unless data were highly skewed and more than about 20% to 30% of the data had to be imputed. Also, PMM generally performed better when sample size was sufficiently large.
A Guide for Setting the Cut-Scores to Minimize Weighted Classification Errors in Test Batteries
Authors: Grabovsky Irina , Wainer Howard
Published: December 2017

In this article, we extend the methodology of the Cut-Score Operating Function that we introduced previously and apply it to a testing scenario with multiple independent components and different testing policies. We derive analytically the overall classification error rate for a test battery under the policy when several retakes are allowed for individual components and also for when one is required to retake the whole battery. We derive the overall classification error rate using a flexible cost function defined by weights assigned to false negative and false positive errors. The result, shown graphically, is that competing demands of minimizing both false positive and false negative errors yield a unique optimal value for the cut-score. This cut-score can be estimated numerically for any number of components and any number of retakes. Among the results we obtain is that the more lenient the retake policy the higher one must set the cut-score to minimize the error rate.
Structural, Morphological and Mechanical Characterisation of Molybdenum Nitride Thin Films Deposited by a Plasma Focus Device
Authors: Hosseinnejad Mohammad Taghi , Ettehadi-Abari Mehdi , Panahi Naser
Published: December 2017

This research focuses on the characterisation of nanostructured molybdenum nitride (MoN) thin films deposited on glass substrates at room temperature using a low-energy (1.1 kJ) plasma focus device. The nanostructure, surface morphology, electrical resistivity and mechanical properties of MoN thin films were studied in terms of the number of shots required to prepare them. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that all of the deposited layers were polycrystalline in nature, possessing the γ-Mo2N (fcc) structure. The XRD results also revealed that the degree of crystallinity and residual stress of the thin films were strongly dependent on the number of shots. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed the Mo 3d3/2, Mo 3d5/2, Mo 3p3/2 and N 1s peaks for all of the thin films, confirming the formation of the γ-Mo2N structure. Scanning electron microscopy images showed the growth of granular structures and then the formation of larger-sized agglomerates on the surfaces of the samples with increasing numbers of shots. Atomic force microscopy indicated that grain sizes on surface layers as well as the average and root mean square roughness increased for samples deposited with more shots. Furthermore, the variations in hardness and electrical resistivity of the deposited MoN thin films were qualitatively explained on the basis of the morphological properties of the samples.
Physical Activity and Hippocampal Sub-Region Structure in Older Adults with Memory Complaints
Authors: Siddarth Prabha , Rahi Berna , Emerson Natacha D. , Burggren Alison C. , Miller Karen J. , Bookheimer Susan , Lavretsky Helen , Dobkin Bruce , Small Gary , Merrill David A.
Published: December 2017

Background:

Physical activity (PA) plays a major role in maintaining cognition in older adults. PA has been shown to be correlated with total hippocampal volume, a memory-critical region within the medial temporal lobe (MTL). However, research on associations between PA and MTL sub-region integrity is limited.

Objective:

To examine the relationship between PA, MTL thickness, and its sub-regions, and cognitive function in non-demented older adults with memory complaints.

Methods:

Twenty-nine subjects aged ≥60 years, with memory complaints were recruited for this cross-sectional study. PA was tracked for 7 days using accelerometers, and average number of steps/day determined. Subjects were categorized into two groups: those who walked ≤4000 steps/day (lower PA) and those with >4000 steps/day (higher PA). Subjects received neuropsychological testing and 3T MRI scans. Nonparametric ANCOVAs controlling for age examined differences between the two groups.

Results:

Twenty-six subjects aged 72.7(8.1) years completed the study. The higher PA group ( n = 13) had thicker fusiform gyrus (median difference = 0.11 mm, effect size (ES) = 1.43, p = 0.001) and parahippocampal cortex (median difference = 0.12 mm, ES = 0.93, p = 0.04) compared to the lower PA group. The higher PA group also exhibited superior performance in attention and information-processing speed (median difference = 0.90, ES = 1.61, p = 0.003) and executive functioning (median difference = 0.97, ES = 1.24, p = 0.05). Memory recall was not significantly different between the two groups.

Conclusion:

Older non-demented individuals complaining of memory loss who walked >4000 steps each day had thicker MTL sub-regions and better cognitive functioning than those who walked ≤4000 steps. Future studies should include longitudinal analyses and explore mechanisms mediating hippocampal related atrophy.
Dissecting the Role of 5-Lipoxygenase in the Homocysteine-Induced Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology
Authors: Di Meco Antonio , Li Jian-Guo , Praticò Domenico
Published: December 2017

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects over 40 million patients around the world and poses a huge economic burden on society since no effective therapy is available yet. While the cause(s) for the most common sporadic form of the disease are still obscure, lifestyle and different environmental factors have emerged as modulators of AD susceptibility. Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHCY), a condition of high circulating levels of homocysteine, is an independent but modifiable risk factor for AD. Studies in AD mouse models have linked HHCY with memory impairment, amyloidosis, tau pathology, synaptic dysfunction, and neuroinflammation. However, the exact mechanism by which HHCY affects AD pathogenesis is unclear. The 5-lipoxygenase (5LO) is a protein upregulated in postmortem AD brains and plays a functional role in AD pathogenesis. Recently, in vitro and in vivo studies showed that HHCY effects on amyloid-β and tau pathology, synapse and memory impairments are dependent on the activation of the 5LO enzymatic pathway, since its genetic absence or pharmacological inhibition prevents them. HHCY induces 5LO gene upregulation by lowering the methylation of its promoter, which results in increased translation and transcription of its mRNA. Based on these findings, we propose that epigenetic modification of 5LO represents the missing biological link between HHCY and AD pathogenesis, and for this reason it represents a viable therapeutic target to prevent AD development in individuals bearing this risk factor.
Stabilize and Flatten Multi-Wavelength Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser through Accurate Hybrid Dual-Ring-Configuration Control
Authors: Zhang Xudong , Li Tieying , Yang Jiuru
Published: December 2017

In order to enhance the practicality of multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber lasers (MWEDFLs), a novel hybrid dual-ring configuration is proposed in this article, which can flatten the outputs through an optical nonlinear-polarization-rotation-based ring cavity and stabilize the shifts of power and central wavelength of oscillations through an electrical fuzzy-control-based feedback. The experiment results show that, our scheme achieves more than 10 stable oscillations with the dramatic improvements in flatness and working stability. Under dual-ring configuration, the output intensity of MWEDFL reaches ~−7.5 dBm with the flatness of ±0.42 dB. And the in-stabilities in terms of power and central wavelength are respectively constrained ±0.182 dBm and ±0.029 nm within 10-h continuous operation.
Audio Time Stretching Using Fuzzy Classification of Spectral Bins
Authors: Damskägg Eero-Pekka , Välimäki Vesa
Published: December 2017

A novel method for audio time stretching has been developed. In time stretching, the audio signal’s duration is expanded, whereas its frequency content remains unchanged. The proposed time stretching method employs the new concept of fuzzy classification of time-frequency points, or bins, in the spectrogram of the signal. Each time-frequency bin is assigned, using a continuous membership function, to three signal classes: tonalness, noisiness, and transientness. The method does not require the signal to be explicitly decomposed into different components, but instead, the computing of phase propagation, which is required for time stretching, is handled differently in each time-frequency point according to the fuzzy membership values. The new method is compared with three previous time-stretching methods by means of a listening test. The test results show that the proposed method yields slightly better sound quality for large stretching factors as compared to a state-of-the-art algorithm, and practically the same quality as a commercial algorithm. The sound quality of all tested methods is dependent on the audio signal type. According to this study, the proposed method performs well on music signals consisting of mixed tonal, noisy, and transient components, such as singing, techno music, and a jazz recording containing vocals. It performs less well on music containing only noisy and transient sounds, such as a drum solo. The proposed method is applicable to the high-quality time stretching of a wide variety of music signals.