bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dual-purpose wheat grain and animal production under different grazing periods
Authors: Pitta Christiano Santos Rocha , Soares André Brugnara , Assmann Tangriani Simioni , Adami Paulo Fernando , Sartor Laércio Ricardo , Migliorini Francisco , Sollenberger Lynn Elwood , Assmann Alceu Luiz
Published: December 2011

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of different grazing periods on beef animal production and on wheat forage and grain yield. The experiment was carried out in Pato Branco, PR, Brazil. Six grazing periods were evaluated (0, 21, 42, 63, 84, and 105 days) on dual-purpose wheat cultivar BRS Tarumã. Purunã steers, with average live weight of 162 kg and ten months of age, were kept under continuous grazing using a variable stocking rate, in order to maintain the established sward height of 25 cm. Greater increases in total animal gain (TAG) occurred with longer grazing periods. However, there was little increase after 63 days (490 kg ha-1), and TAG decreased from 552 to 448 kg ha-1 between 84 and 105 days. Grain yield decreased from 2,830 to 610 kg ha-1 when the grazing period increased from 0 to 105 days, but there was little change after 63 days (750 kg ha-1). Cultivar BRS Tarumã shows excellent animal production potential, and the decision on how long wheat pastures should be grazed must be based on relative prices of grain and livestock.
Ophthalmic and anesthetic evaluation of topical 1% tetracaine and 0.5% proparacaine in dogs
Authors: Parchen H.D. , Izar M.L. , Branco P.S. , Lacowicz C. , Sano D.H. , Belo C.E.P. , Vilani R.G.D'O.C.
Published: December 2011

The aim of this study was to establish the action of 1% tetracaine eye drops in combination with 0.1% phenylephrine in two different posologies and their effects on the eye compared to the 0.5% proparacaine drops in dogs. 22 animals were divided into two groups: TG (11 animals), received 1% tetracaine associated with 0.1% phenylephrine eye drops, one drop instilled in the left eye and two drops, with one-minute interval between each, instilled in the right eye; PG (11 animals) received 0.5% proparacaine eye drops following the same dosage. The average duration of the observed anesthetic action was 25 minutes for tetracaine and 15 minutes for proparacaine. The instillation of two drops increased anesthetic time in five minutes. No changes in intraocular pressure, pupil diameter and tear production was observed. The drops of tetracaine triggered chemosis in four (36.4%) animals. Topical anesthesia with proparacaine eye drops showed no adverse reactions and is thus recommended preferentially.
Cell proliferation markers in the transplanted canine transmissible venereal tumor
Authors: Santos F.G.A. , Moro L. , Cassali G.D. , Paixão T.A. , Campos P.P. , Silva S.S. , Vasconcelos A.C.
Published: December 2011

Adult male mongrel dogs were subcutaneously transplanted with the canine transmissible venereal tumor (TVT) on the hypogastric region. Twelve specimens of tumors were collected, half during the proliferative phase and the other half during the regressive phase. Fragments of the tumor were fixed in 10% buffered formalin and routinely processed for light microscopy. Sections of 4µm were stained by Schorr or AgNOR or either immunostained for MIB1 (Ki67). Schorr stain, AgNOR and MIB1 showed an increased proliferative activity through mitotic index, nuclear argyrophilic protein stain and cycling tumoral cells in the growing tumors, respectively. All of the three cell proliferation markers were able to distinguish the TVT in both evolution phases. MIB1 monoclonal antibody was the best in the morphologic evaluation of growth and regression of TVT. This resulted in higher values than AgNORs counting and mitotic index. MIB1 immunostaining was the most effective parameter of the proliferative activity of TVT. However, a significant correlation has been detected only between mitosis counting and AgNORs.
Óxido nítrico, GSTP-1 e p53: qual o papel desses biomarcadores nas lesões prostáticas do cão?
Authors: Croce G.B. , Rodrigues M.M.P. , Faleiro M.B.R. , Moura V.M.B.D. , Amorim R. Laufer
Published: December 2011

Confeccionou-se um microarranjo de tecido (TMA) com 146 amostras de lesões prostáticas caninas. Este continha 17,2% de hiperplasia prostática benigna (HPB), 32,4% de atrofia inflamatória proliferativa (PIA), 2,6% de prostatite, 8,6% de focos de neoplasia intraepitelial prostática (PIN), 29,1% de carcinomas e 9,3% de próstatas normais. Cortes histológicos sequenciais foram feitos e utilizados para reação de imunoistoquímica com os anticorpos primários anti-p-53, anti-NOS-2 e anti-GSTP. Avaliou-se de cada core o escore de células marcadas para cada anticorpo utilizado. Os resultados foram tabulados por grupo diagnóstico e submetidos ao teste Tuckey. Os carcinomas prostáticos do cão e a PIA apresentaram maior número de amostras (41) com mais de 75% das células positivas para NOS-2, demonstrando a influência do estresse oxidativo no desenvolvimento dessas lesões. As próstatas normais e as afecções desta glândula, HPB, PIA, PIN, prostatite e carcinoma, expressaram a proteína GSTP-1, o que conferiu proteção ao tecido prostático canino a danos oxidativos. A proteína p53 estava presente em todas as amostras estudadas, incluindo o tecido prostático normal, porém as lesões prostáticas apresentaram maior número de amostras com escores mais elevados de marcação (escores três e quatro), presente em 95% dos focos de PIA e carcinoma. Concluiu-se que o aumento de expressão de óxido nítrico nas lesões prostáticas no cão e a expressão de GSTP-1 podem ter protegido o tecido prostático canino e que a expressão de p53 foi positiva e uniforme nas próstatas normais e com lesões hiperplásicas e displásicas.
Tubulopapillary carcinoma of the mammary gland in a maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus): histopathological and immunophenotypical analysis
Authors: Gamba C.O. , Damasceno K.A. , Ferreira E. , Malta M.C.C. , Cassali G.D.
Published: December 2011

A maned female wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) showed nodules in the inguinal and left abdominal cranial mammary glands. The mammary gland was surgically excised, and microscopic analysis revealed epithelial cell proliferation in a tubular and papillary pattern; delicate fibrovascular stalks presenting numerous layers of moderately pleomorfic epithelial cells were observed. This histologic appearance was compatible with a diagnosis of mammary tubulopapillary carcinoma. The immunohistochemical profile revealed nuclear positivity for estrogen (70%) and progesterone (at least 90% of the neoplastic cells). The myoepithelium-associated with neoplastic cells lacked integrity, as evidenced by failed smooth muscle alpha actin reactivity in microinvasive areas. A low proliferation index was observed (3.4%). To the authors' knowledge, the present case represents the first finding of female tubulopapillary carcinoma in a mammary gland in this species.
EcoDopplercardiografia em coelhos: uso de midazolam e midazolam associado à cetamina
Authors: Silva E.F. , Borboleta L.R. , Telles T.C. , Fonseca V.B. , Melo M.M.
Published: December 2011

O uso de animais como modelos experimentais muitas vezes exige a administração de sedativos ou anestésicos, particularmente quando se trata de avaliação ecoDopplercardiográfica de coelhos. No entanto, existem poucas informações sobre os protocolos e seus efeitos nestes parâmetros. Diante deste contexto, foram utilizados 20 coelhos Nova Zelândia machos, com cinco meses e 3,2kg, distribuídos em dois grupos de 10 animais cada: G1 - maleato de midazolam associado ao cloridrato de cetamina, e G2 - maleato de midazolam. Compararam-se o efeito dos dois protocolos sob os índices funcionais do ventrículo esquerdo e os fluxos valvares, e observaram-se menores valores de frequência cardíaca e da fração de ejeção e maiores valores de diâmetro do ventrículo esquerdo na sístole, de volume sistólico final do ventrículo esquerdo e de diâmetro aórtico no grupo que recebeu apenas maleato de midazolam (G2). Concluiu-se que, o maleato de midazolam apresentou-se mais eficaz, pois causou boa sedação nos animais, permitindo a realização de ecoDopplercardiogramas de qualidade e efeitos limitados no sistema cardiovascular.
Grau de bem-estar relativo de frangos em diferentes densidades de lotação
Authors: Bonamigo A. , Silva C.B.S. , Molento C.F.M.
Published: December 2011

Avaliou-se o impacto da redução da densidade de lotação sobre o bem-estar animal (BEA) de frangas de corte, produzidas para abate precoce. Para isso, aos 12 dias de idade, 800 frangas, comerciais, foram distribuídas em baias de 4m²; sendo oito com 10 aves (17,0kg)/m² (DL10) e oito com 15 aves (25,5kg)/m² (DL15). As condições ambientais foram avaliadas utilizando-se o índice de temperatura e umidade (ITU). Para avaliação de bem-estar, foi construído um etograma; hemograma e testes bioquímicos séricos, desempenho zootécnico e problemas locomotores foram avaliados. Em 43,6% do tempo, o ITU ficou acima do recomendado, e não foram observadas diferenças comportamentais. Diferenças significativas foram observadas em relação aos basófilos, valores de 6,3±2,3 e 4,5±1,8%; triglicerídeos, 158,9±32,9 e 186,3±43,9mg/dL; globulinas, 1,8±0,5 e 1,5±0,4%. Menos peso final ocorreu em DL15, 1,65±0,28kg, 1,69±0,13. Problemas locomotores não diferiram entre tratamento. A consideração conjunta de menor peso final, maiores taxas de triglicerídeos e menores valores de globulinas sugere menor grau de bem-estar em DL15. Índices de ITU e relação heterófilo:linfócito acima do normal sugerem baixo grau de bem-estar em ambas as densidades.
Milho inteiro e moído em diferentes sistemas de alimentação para poedeiras semipesadas
Authors: Gewehr C.E. , Oliveira V. , Costenaro J. , Pagno G. , Rosniecek M. , Farias D.K.
Published: December 2011

Avaliaram-se o desempenho e a qualidade de ovos de poedeiras semipesadas alimentadas com dietas com diferentes granulometrias do milho em dois sistemas de alimentação (fatorial 4x2) utilizando-se 256 aves em 32 gaiolas, a partir da 46ª semana de idade. As granulometrias do milho utilizadas foram: milho inteiro, milho com 3.198µm, milho com 1254µm e milho com 663µm de diâmetro geométrico médio, e os dois sistemas de alimentação: completo e de livre escolha. O experimento teve duração de quatro períodos de 28 dias. Avaliaram-se consumo de ração (g/ave/dia), produção de ovos (%ovos/ave/dia), peso dos ovos (g), densidade específica (g/cm³), massa de ovos (g), consumo energético (kcal/ave/dia) e consumo proteico (g/ave/dia). No método de livre escolha, as diferentes granulometrias não influenciaram o desempenho. A qualidade do ovo não foi afetada pelas diferentes granulometrias do milho e pelos sistemas de alimentação. No método de livre escolha, houve redução no consumo proteico, com exceção do milho inteiro. Nas granulometrias média e grossa, o sistema completo resultou em maior número de ovos em relação ao de livre escolha.
Influence of Chinese Privet (Ligustrum sinense) on Decomposition and Nutrient Availability in Riparian Forests
Authors: Mitchell Jennifer D. , Lockaby B. Graeme , Brantley Eve F.
Published: December 2011

As invasive species become increasingly abundant in forests, their presence may influence a number of key nutrient cycling processes. For example, Chinese privet has become well established in southeastern forests and continues to spread. Two studies, a multisite field investigation and a controlled approach on a single site, were conducted to examine the role of Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) on decomposition within riparian forests of the Georgia Piedmont. The field study also investigated the effects of privet presence on soil nitrogen (N) mineralization and microbial carbon and N immobilization. Both studies utilized a litterbag approach to examine how increasing proportions of privet in foliar litter influenced mass loss rates and nutrient dynamics. The field investigation included litterbags with representative proportions of the five dominant species from 16 sites. Litterbags in the controlled study were composed of specific levels of privet litter within bags (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% Chinese privet) as treatments. The litter quality of four native species was compared to Chinese privet in the controlled study. Both studies showed significant positive relationships between percentage of Chinese privet in litterbags and decomposition rates (2.6-fold rate increase with 30% privet in litterfall). Chinese privet leaf litter had lower lignin and cellulose concentrations, higher N concentrations, lower lignin : N ratios, and narrower C : N ratios than the native species. The positive relationship between mass loss rates and the proportion of Chinese privet in litter indicates that Chinese privet enhances decomposition rates as it becomes more abundant. During summer, N mineralization showed approximately a fivefold increase; during winter, microbial biomass N increased by approximately 30% on sites with the highest levels of privet in the understory. Consequently, C and N dynamics in Piedmont riparian forests were significantly influenced in direct proportion to the amount of privet present in the understory.
An Integrated Relapse Prevention and Relationship Safety Intervention for Women on Methadone: Testing Short-Term Effects on Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Use
Authors: Gilbert Louisa , El-Bassel Nabila , Manuel Jennifer , Wu Elwin , Go Hyun , Golder Seana , Seewald Randy , Sanders Glorice
Published: December 2011

This study tests the feasibility, safety, and short-term preliminary effects of a relapse prevention and relationship safety (RPRS) intervention in reducing drug use and the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) among women on methadone. For this randomized controlled trial, 34 women who met IPV and drug use criteria were randomly assigned to either the RPRS condition (n = 16) or a one-session informational control (IC) condition (n = 18). RPRS participants were more likely than IC participants to report a decrease in minor physical or sexual IPV (OR = 7.1, p = .05), minor psychological IPV (OR = 5.3, p = .03) and severe psychological IPV (OR = 6.07, p = .03) at the 3month follow-up. Data suggest that RPRS participants were also more likely than IC participants to report a decrease in any drug use at 3 months (OR = 3.3, p = .08). This study provides preliminary evidence that the RPRS intervention is effective in reducing IPV and drug use among women on methadone.
Early Abuse Experiences and Subsequent Gender Differences in Couple Adjustment
Authors: Godbout Natacha , Lussier Yvan , Sabourin Stéphane
Published: December 2011

The main purpose of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between early abusive experiences (sexual abuse, parental violence, and witnessing parental violence) and subsequent couple adjustment with a theoretical model that incorporates attachment and psychological distress as mediator variables. We specifically examined the variability in long-term psychosocial characteristics of child abuse survivors across women and men. A representative sample of French-Canadian couples composed of 632 men and women completed measures of child abuse, attachment, psychological distress, and dyadic adjustment. Structural equation analyses showed that, for both women and men, sexual abuse was related to dyadic adjustment through anxiety about abandonment and psychological distress. For men, experiencing physical or psychological violence was associated with dyadic adjustment through psychological distress. For women, there was an indirect relationship between witnessing physical violence and dyadic adjustment through abandonment anxiety. Differences between men and women in the long-term adjustment to childhood sexual abuse were small and not consistent with a gender-specific model of psychosocial repercussions.
Domestic Violence Beliefs and Perceptions Among College Students
Authors: Nabors Erin L. , Dietz Tracy L. , Jasinski Jana L.
Published: December 2011

This study builds on current research, investigating the relationships between sociodemographic variables and domestic violence attitudes and beliefs among college students. Data from the Relationship Characteristics Study conducted in 2001, which includes a sample of 1,938 college students, are used to replicate and extend the research of Carlson and Worden (2001, 2005), the developers of the attitudes and beliefs items. In addition, the research portends to analyze factors associated with domestic violence causation endorsement, physical and sexual abuse, stalking, and verbal abuse beliefs, including gender, race and ethnicity, university year, parents’ education, family income, parents’ marital status, and relationship status. Results are consistent with the rates reported by the item developers. Further, results demonstrate that sociodemographic variables are correlated with physical and sexual abuse and verbal abuse beliefs and causation endorsement.
Simulation of primary log cutting plan (PPRT) in sawmill wood processing
Authors: Vukicevic Milan
Published: December 2011

A specification of sawn timber is realized based on the previously designed
log cutting plan, primary and secondary. The plan of primary log cutting
(PPRT) has its verbal and mathematical interpretations. The theoretical
aspect of PPRT design reported in the literature has great disadvantages. As
it is based on the description and empirical combinations, such PPRT could
hardly be evaluated as optimal. In addition to the above weakness, there is
another one, i.e., the fact that the problem of PPRT design is reduced to a
mono-criterion problem, i.e. the minimisation of total waste. If the problem
of PPRT design is approached systematically, it is clear that the
minimisation of total waste is only one out of a series of goals that a PPRT
should fulfil. Nevertheless, the procedure presented in the literature is
deeply rooted in practice. This paper, based on the on simulation principle,
presents a modern procedure of PPRT design which consists of a number of
phases. The first phase includes computer support in the design procedure of
log cutting plans and also, a mono-criterion decision making in the selection
of log cutting plans which ensure the minimal total waste per PPRT. The
second phase includes the definition of another two criteria which are
decisive for the optimal quality of PPRT. They are the log prices and the
profit. Altogether 84 (eighty-four) cutting plans were designed and 4 (four)
PPRTs. The solution of the problem, i.e. the design of an optimal PPRT in the
conditions of three criteria, is based on multicriteria decision making using
the method of Analytical Hierarchy Processes - AHP. The calculation is
computed by the software Program Criterion Decision Plus - Version 3.0
Student version, InfoHarvest.Inc. In the study simulation of PPRT design, the
optimal plan was PPRT3. The presented three criteria are not the final
number. The inclusion of additional relevant criteria will depend on the
inventiveness of the manager.
Analysis of the biological spectrum of vascular flora of Ravni Srem flood forests
Authors: Jurisic Branislav , Obratov-Petkovic Dragica , Bjedov Ivana , Bojat Nenad , Stevanovic Vladimir
Published: December 2011

One of the essential analyses performed during the floristic study of a
region is the analysis of the biological spectrum. The analysis of the
biological spectrum of the flora includes the determination of the type of
life form for each taxon described in the flora of the study region. If it is
considered that life form is a specific structural-functional response to the
environmental effects and the result of the adaptation during the species
evolution, it is clear that the basic characteristics of the site are more or
less reflected in any life form. This fact is confirmed by the analysis of
the biological spectrum of the flora of Ravni Srem. The analysis of the Ravni
Srem flora shows the domination of the hemicryptophytes and the subdomination
of the phanerophytes with a considerable participation of the therophytes.
Characteristics and variability of dystric brown soils in posavsko forest economic district
Authors: Kapovic Marijana , Knezevic Milan , Blagojevic Velibor
Published: December 2011

The paper presents a statistical analysis of the basic chemical
characteristics of dystric cambisol, its depth and clay content in Posavsko
forest economic district. The aim was to define the influence of pedogenetic
factors (primarily parent rock) on the characteristics of dystric cambisols,
using statistical analysis. The analysis was based on the data from the
Interpreter of Soil and Typological Maps of Posavsko forest economic
district. 35 soil profiles were analyzed. A and (B) horizons were analyzed
separately, then compared with each other in terms of similarities and
differences. Variability is greater in the A horizon. The values of
variability, analysis of variance, linear and multiple regression,
correlation and cluster analysis were determined. Three main subtypes were
defined based on the results of chemical characteristics, depth, and clay
content, namely: leached (4 profiles), humus (1 profile) and typical (30
profiles). The results show that the properties of this soil type are
significantly influenced by the character of parent material.
Estimation of cost-effectiveness of poplar wood production in poplar plantations in Ravni Srem based on the cost-benefit method
Authors: Keca Ljiljana
Published: December 2011

Cost-effectiveness of polar cultivation was analyzed based on one of the
indicators for the assessment of agriculture and forestry projects -
cost-benefit (r). Poplar plantations of the clone I-214 of different
rotations and on different soil types were analyzed in the area of Ravni
Srem. The aim of the study was to evaluate the justification of the invested
financial means in wood production in poplar plantations, based on the
analysis of costs and receipts at different plantation ages, using the
cost-benefit method. It was found that in all 13 analyzed compartments, the
average cost-benefit ratio was 0.36. This means that the costs at the
discount rate of 12% are about 2.8 times higher than the receipts.
Accordingly, it can be asserted that it is economically unjustified to invest
in the projected stands, but only in the case when the value of social
capital accounts for 12%. Based on the analysis of sensitivity of the
cost-benefit method, it was concluded that cost benefit ratio for p=8-12% was
below 1 within the study range of costs and receipts changes, while for
p=4-6% this ratio was above 1 in some cases of decrease in costs, i.e.
increase in receipts. It was noted that the change in r depending on the
change in costs, developed by the exponential function, and the change in r
depending on the change in receipts developed by the linear function. Also,
it was concluded that at the lower discount rates, the values of r moved
towards 1, so for 8% r=0.71, and for 6% r=0.94. The value at the discount
rate of 4% indicates that the project is cost-effective and that the invested
? 1 makes ? 1.22. This fact is especially important when poplar cultivation
projects are ranked. For this reason, this method is used for the evaluation
of social benefits, i.e. for economic analyses. It is almost never applied in
the analysis of private investments.
Detailed geomorphological map sheet Bela Palanka at scale 1:100,000
Authors: Menkovic Ljubomir
Published: December 2011

The Geomorphological Map Sheet Bela Palanka is a graphical representation of
landforms in the area covered by the Topographical Map Sheet Bela Palanka at
scale 1:100,000. The map is published in 2008 by the Serbian Academy of
Sciences and Arts (SASA) and the SASA Geodynamics Board. It is the first
detailed geomorphological map edited in Serbia. This paper presents the
methods used in preparing the geomorphological map, the contents and the mode
of data presentation, geologic structure, genetic types of landforms and the
subtypes, and the geomorphological history since the Neogene.
Analysis of the daily minimum temperatures for Belgrade and Nis
Authors: Knezevic Suzana , Tosic Ivana , Unkasevic Miroslava
Published: December 2011

The present work is an analysis of the daily minimum temperatures during the
period 1949-2009 in Belgrade and Nis using the climate indice TN10p, i.e. a
number of days per year with the minimum temperature less than the 10th
percentile (cold nights). A positive trend of the absolute minimum
temperatures is found in Belgrade and Nis. It is calculated that the TN10p,
i.e. number of cold nights decreases. A greater decrease of number of cold
nights is recorded in Belgrade than one in Nis. The greatest decrease is
observed on the annual basis, while smaller decrease is observed in autumn.
Toward ‘Our Ways of Knowing’ in the Age of Standardization
Authors: Soto Lourdes Diaz , De Moed Simone Tuinhof
Published: December 2011

Current neoliberal educational policies are impacting young children and their teachers in the United States in many ways. Young children and teachers find themselves in vulnerable positions within a framework of an imperialist education in the age of standardization. Part of the struggle is to open spaces of decolonization that include home languages and cultures. This article calls for an educational transformation toward ‘our ways of knowing’ that includes liberation and emancipation.
Making Space for Place-Making Pedagogies: Stretching Normative Mandated Literacy Curriculum
Authors: Comber Barbara
Published: December 2011

In an era of normative standardised literacy curriculum continuing to make space for culturally responsive literacy pedagogy is on ongoing challenge for early childhood educators. Collaborative participatory research and ethnographic studies of teachers who accomplish innovative and inclusive early childhood education in culturally diverse high poverty communities is urgent for the profession. Such pedagogies involve complex understandings of the cultural and political histories, and the dynamic potential, of the places in which school communities are located. By incorporating the study of local histories and biographies and researching neighbourhood changes teachers adapt mandated curriculum to maintain community knowledges and allow for positive identity work at the same time as they meet the authorised systems objectives. When teachers work with children as co-researchers through the study of people's lives in particular places and times, the community and its complex histories become a rich resource for young people's literacy repertoires.
Agency as the Acquisition of Capital: The Role of One-On-One Tutoring and Mentoring in Changing a Refugee Student's Educational Trajectory
Authors: Dumenden Iris E.
Published: December 2011

Current research into the experiences of refugee students in mainstream secondary schools in Australia indicates that for these students, schools are places of social and academic isolation and failure. This article introduces one such student, Lian, who came to Australia as a refugee from Burma, and whom the author tutored and mentored intensively during his final year of schooling. The article provides an empirically derived understanding of how one-on-one tutoring and mentoring became a platform through which this student was able to succeed in a structure which systematically tried to exclude him. Here, agency is conceptualised in terms of Bourdieu's concept of capital. The analysis highlights the ways in which one-on-one tutoring and mentoring provided the necessary platform by which this refugee student was able to acquire the necessary capital that effected a positive change in his educational trajectory.
Enacted Agency as the Strategic Making of Selves in Plurilingual Literacy Events: Framing Agency and Children as Contributors to Their Own and Others' Learning
Authors: Portante Dominique
Published: December 2011

‘This article is about the understanding of how children, using different conceptions of literacy as means to construct their social reality and their social roles in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, are enabled to enact agency in terms of their strategic making and remaking of selves. The research approach is informed by a sociocultural conception of literacy and draws on a conception of agency as multisourced, distributed and mediated through human interaction, mediational means and discourses. The author uses a microethnographic approach combining ethnomethodology and conversational analysis as well as discourse analysis to make visible how the children are reached by more or less distant meanings and conceptions of literacy conveyed and stabilised through the locally acting devices. The analysis also shows how material objects like written texts produced by children mediate the participants' agency in different ways, constraining or enabling it with respect to how the children contribute to their own and to others' learning. The article ends with conclusions on perspectives for organising learning with regard to subject formation in terms of empowering participation designs and for designing analytic frames for investigating processes of formation of multisourced agency.
Agency as the Ability and Opportunity to Participate in Evaluation as Knowledge Construction
Authors: Eggen Astrid Birgitte
Published: December 2011

School communities find themselves within an overall ideological and epistemological controversy with regard to a drive for goal-oriented and ‘evidence-based’ practices on the one hand and emancipative bottom-up developmental strategies on the other, treating empirical data as information to be analysed according to context, with potential meaning for practice. This raises questions of democratic purposes of education, of leaders' and teachers' agency and corresponding accountability. This article is therefore an empirically based discussion of the relationship between multiple understandings of democracy and multiple practices of evaluation. It presents certain results of three ethnographic research projects among school leaders in Norwegian secondary education. Using a critical ethnographic research methodology in order to build agency, the article focuses on dilemmas and paradoxes of evaluation in an era of market-driven accountability. A situated perspective has been applied in order to view evaluation as a joint enterprise dependent upon the shared vocabulary and repertoire of evaluative tools in each community of practice. The fieldwork shows that the factors that are crucial for teachers' and school leaders' agency in this professional area concern their awareness of assessment used for evaluative purposes within multiple perspectives of democracy and validity. Most participants look beyond formalised procedures and predefined purposes, focusing instead on knowledge construction. The ultimate objective of the participants seems to be that of agency building, or becoming subjects in these processes rather than objects of instrumental application.
Homework through the Eyes of Children: What Does Visual Ethnography Invite Us to See?
Authors: Hutchison Kirsten
Published: December 2011

Whilst the notion of children's rights and an entitlement to express their views and participate as global citizens is threaded throughout the international policy field, children's perspectives on the near ubiquitous practice of homework, and its effects on their daily lives and learner subjectivities, remain under-researched. Drawing on the Bourdieuian concepts of practice, habitus, capital and field, this article develops a cross-cultural analysis of homework practices in Australia, Denmark and Britain to make visible the embodied habitus and agentic possibilities shaping the reproduction of educational advantage and disadvantage for variously located students. Using video data generated by children in primary schools, the article explores children's visual representations of their compliance and resistance to homework's regulatory functions. It demonstrates the affordances of visual ethnographic methods as a form of participatory research with children which foregrounds students' experiences and opinions and makes visible the inclusionary and exclusionary effects of homework on children in diverse socio-cultural settings.
Quality Assurance on the Road: Finland and Austria in Comparison
Authors: Bernhard Andrea
Published: December 2011

The ongoing necessity for quality and quality assurance in the entire Bologna process remains one of the main issues for European policy makers. The aims of creating comparable systems and of guaranteeing quality within higher education systems are the reasons for national developments and the eagerness to reform. The situation in two relatively small European countries, Austria and Finland, is at the centre of this research and exemplifies different ways of coping with international developments and the need to establish a comprehensive quality assurance system. How do these countries cope with the pressure to compete in the global higher education market? Is their system of quality assurance in line with the European aim to create a European higher education area? The purpose of this study is to provide an overview on two national quality assurance systems and to figure out similarities and differences between these two countries, providing a clear picture of what has been done in the field of quality assurance, where the challenges to transform are and how to improve quality assurance systems.
Educational Organisations as ‘Cultures of Consumption’: Cultural Contexts of Consumer Learning in Schools
Authors: Fischer Daniel
Published: December 2011

High levels of consumption in the industrialised parts of the world such as Europe mark a central threat to global sustainable development. In recent years, growing attention has been paid to the contributions of education and educational organisations to the socialisation of youths and young adults into consumer culture. It is the contention of this article that educational responses to the consumption challenge both within the European Union (EU) consumer policy strategy and in current practices in consumer education in European countries build on an understanding of consumer learning in schools that is too narrowly defined and thus insufficient. The aim of this article is therefore to help overcome this shortcoming by unfolding a socio-cultural view on consumption-related formal and informal learning environments in educational organisations. It is assumed that in response to external framings such as curricula or policies and as a result of inner-organisational negotiations, schools bring about distinct ways of relating to consumption and youth consumers that have socialising effects on their students. This article presents a conceptual elaboration of these contexts and processes. It draws on research into the genesis and characteristic fields of school culture and relates this to the domain of consumption. As a result, a detailed framework of organisational ‘cultures of consumption’ in schools with six thematic domains is presented. The article concludes with a discussion of implications and demands for a new research, practice and policy-making agenda that is needed to advance a more holistic promotion of sustainable consumer education in schools in Europe.
Policy as Assemblage
Authors: Gorur Radhika
Published: December 2011

In this article, the author tells the story of her search for appropriate tools to conceptualise policy work. She had set out to explore the relationship between the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Australia's education policy, but early interview data forced her to reconsider her research question. The plethora of available models of policy did not satisfactorily accommodate her growing understanding of the messiness and complexity of policy work. On the basis of interviews with 18 policy actors, including former OECD officials, PISA analysts and bureaucrats, as well as documentary analysis of government reports and ministerial media releases, she suggests that the concept of ‘assemblage’ provides the tools to better understand the messy processes of policy work. The relationship between PISA and national policy is of interest to many scholars in Europe, making this study widely relevant. An article that argues for the unsettling of tidy accounts of knowledge making in policy can hardly afford to obscure the untidiness of its own assemblage. Accordingly, this article is somewhat unconventional in its presentation, and attempts to take the reader into the messiness of the research world as well as the policy world. Implicit in this presentation is the suggestion that both policy work and research work are ongoing attempts to find order and coherence through the cobbling together of a variety of resources.
Delay-dependent generalized H2 control for discrete T-S fuzzy large-scale stochastic systems with mixed delays
Authors: Li Jiangrong , Li Junmin , Xia Zhile
Published: December 2011

Delay-dependent generalized H2 control for discrete T-S fuzzy large-scale stochastic systems with mixed delays

This paper is concerned with the problem of stochastic stability and generalized H2 control for discrete-time fuzzy large-scale stochastic systems with time-varying and infinite-distributed delays. Large-scale interconnected systems consist of a number of discrete-time interconnected Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) subsystems. First, a novel Delay-Dependent Piecewise Lyapunov-Krasovskii Functional (DDPLKF) is proposed, in which both the upper and the lower bound of delays are considered. Then, two improved delay-dependent stability conditions are established based on this DDPLKF in terms of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). The merit of the proposed conditions lies in its reduced conservatism, which is achieved by circumventing the utilization of some bounding inequalities for cross products of two vectors and by considering the interactions among the fuzzy subsystems in each subregion. A decentralized generalized H2 state feedback fuzzy controller is designed for each subsystem. It is shown that the mean-square stability for discrete T-S fuzzy large-scale stochastic systems can be established if a DDPLKF can be constructed and a decentralized controller can be obtained by solving a set of LMIs. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
LMI-based adaptive fuzzy integral sliding mode control of mismatched uncertain systems
Authors: Mnasri Chaouki , Gasmi Moncef
Published: December 2011

LMI-based adaptive fuzzy integral sliding mode control of mismatched uncertain systems

Integral sliding mode design is considered for a class of uncertain systems in the presence of mismatched uncertainties in both state and input matrices, as well as norm-bounded nonlinearities and external disturbances. A sufficient condition for the robust stability of the sliding manifold is derived by means of linear matrix inequalities. The initial existence of the sliding mode is guaranteed by the proposed control law. The improvement of the proposed control scheme performances, such as chattering elimination and estimation of norm bounds of uncertainties, is then considered with the application of an adaptive fuzzy integral sliding mode control law. The validity and efficiency of the proposed approaches are investigated through a sixth order uncertain mechanical system.
A fine-grained arc-consistency algorithm for non-normalized constraint satisfaction problems
Authors: Arangú Marlene , Salido Miguel
Published: December 2011

A fine-grained arc-consistency algorithm for non-normalized constraint satisfaction problems

Constraint programming is a powerful software technology for solving numerous real-life problems. Many of these problems can be modeled as Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs) and solved using constraint programming techniques. However, solving a CSP is NP-complete so filtering techniques to reduce the search space are still necessary. Arc-consistency algorithms are widely used to prune the search space. The concept of arc-consistency is bidirectional, i.e., it must be ensured in both directions of the constraint (direct and inverse constraints). Two of the most well-known and frequently used arc-consistency algorithms for filtering CSPs are AC3 and AC4. These algorithms repeatedly carry out revisions and require support checks for identifying and deleting all unsupported values from the domains. Nevertheless, many revisions are ineffective, i.e., they cannot delete any value and consume a lot of checks and time. In this paper, we present AC4-OP, an optimized version of AC4 that manages the binary and non-normalized constraints in only one direction, storing the inverse founded supports for their later evaluation. Thus, it reduces the propagation phase avoiding unnecessary or ineffective checking. The use of AC4-OP reduces the number of constraint checks by 50% while pruning the same search space as AC4. The evaluation section shows the improvement of AC4-OP over AC4, AC6 and AC7 in random and non-normalized instances.
Partitioned iterated function systems with division and a fractal dependence graph in recognition of 2D shapes
Authors: Gdawiec Krzysztof , Domańska Diana
Published: December 2011

Partitioned iterated function systems with division and a fractal dependence graph in recognition of 2D shapes

One of the approaches in pattern recognition is the use of fractal geometry. The property of self-similarity of fractals has been used as a feature in several pattern recognition methods. All fractal recognition methods use global analysis of the shape. In this paper we present some drawbacks of these methods and propose fractal local analysis using partitioned iterated function systems with division. Moreover, we introduce a new fractal recognition method based on a dependence graph obtained from the partitioned iterated function system. The proposed method uses local analysis of the shape, which improves the recognition rate. The effectiveness of our method is shown on two test databases. The first one was created by the authors and the second one is the MPEG7 CE-Shape-1 PartB database. The obtained results show that the proposed methodology has led to a significant improvement in the recognition rate.
The Rise of Smaller Cities and Its Meaning in International Tourism to Japan
Authors: Kitada Koji
Published: December 2011

The Rise of Smaller Cities and Its Meaning in International Tourism to Japan

The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan has steadily increased in the recent decades. The country has much variety between districts in spite of its small area, and there is a close relation between the variety of tourist resources and preferences of foreign visitors according to their nationalities. For example, prefectures located in the Hokuriku and Hida district, which do not have large cities, have shown a rapid increase in foreign visitors in the recent years and become one of the major international tourist areas in Japan. The district is mainly supported by visitors from Taiwan and Europe seeking tradition of Japan in smaller cities and the beauty of nature. It is true that 75% of foreign tourists visiting Japan come from Asia and many of them prefer shopping in large cities. But it is also important to enhance historic and cultural value of tourist resources to heighten the attraction of Japan: variety between districts.
Numbers and narratives. Relations between patient satisfaction, retention, outcome and program factors in outpatient substance abuse treatment
Authors: Thylstrup Birgitte
Published: December 2011

Aims

Research on substance abuse treatment suggests patient satisfaction is linked to use of services and abstinence. However, patient perspectives on treatment are rarely examined. This study used mixed methods to examine correlations between patients’ treatment satisfaction, retention and abstinence from drugs and provide a transpersonal account of patient perspectives on treatment.

Data and Methods

Eight Danish outpatient substance abuse treatment centres participated in the study. Data was collected from 186 patients. Quantitative measures were used at baseline screenings and at 6 months follow-up interviews, including the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8 (CSQ-8). Qualitative measures were used for patient descriptions of treatment at follow-up.

Results

Patient satisfaction with treatment was linked to retention, abstinence and program differences. The qualitative data described patient's views on high or low treatment satisfaction.

Conclusion

The CSQ-8 is a valuable tool for monitoring patient engagement and treatment effect in substance abuse treatment services. The inclusion of patient perspectives underlined the importance of a more contextual understanding of program components.
Applying mixed methods in evaluation of a community prevention project: reflections on strengths and challenges
Authors: Rossow Ingeborg , Baklien Bergljot
Published: December 2011

Aims

In this study we report on experiences with applying mixed methods in an evaluation study and present reflections on strengths and challenges in this respect. What was done in order to integrate qualitative and quantitative methods? What were the main benefits? What kinds of difficulties were encountered.

Methods

The study is a case report based on the researchers’ own experiences from applying qualitative process evaluation and quantitative effect evaluation in a comprehensive evaluation of a complex community prevention project.

Results

Findings from qualitative methods were used to initiate further effect evaluation (sequential integration) and to support and explain findings from the effect evaluation (simultaneous integration). The main benefits were a more nuanced and comprehensive evaluation integrated into a common evaluation report. The integration of qualitative and quantitative methods presented a number of challenges, particularly in integrating the analyses and writing a common report, due to significant differences in research traditions.

Conclusion

The use of mixed methods in this evaluation study was very useful and necessary, particularly to explain the findings and to provide information for future prevention projects. However, essential differences between process evaluation and effect evaluation presented challenges.