Scientific Literacy in the digital age: tools, environments and resources for co-inquiry

This paper describes some European and International projects to promote Scientific Literacy in the digital age as well as technologies, environments and resources for co-inquiry. The aim of this research is also to describe computer applications, software tools and environments that were designed to support processes of collaborative inquiry learning to promote Scientific Literacy. These tools are analyzed by describing their interfaces and functionalities. The outcomes of this descriptive research points out some effects on student learning and competences developed known from the literature. This paper argues the importance of promoting scientific citizenship not only through schools and Universities (formal learning), but also non-credit online courses and community-based learning programmes (non-formal context), as well as daily life activities, educational open digital materials through social networks (informal scenario)

Participation of Women in the Notarial Public Deed of the 16th Century. From the Constriction of the Marital Licence to the Fullness of Widowhood

This study intends to analyse the participation of the married woman and the widow in the notarial public deed of the 16th century, in Spain, in light of the notarial forms and treatises of the time and the process itself of executing a notarial public deed. Visigothic Law would gather, to certain extent, Roman limitations and the openness brought by the Christian doctrine, resulting in the different legal systems of High Medieval times, when the married woman needed a licence from her husband in order to act. Spanish Law 56 of Toro would regulate the marital licence as a general system and compulsory requirement for the valid intervention of the married woman. In the beginning of the 16th century, not a few women executed notarial deeds and wrote royal letters related to registering as residents, returning properties and shortening litigations

Global shocks and their impact on Nigeria: Lessons from global Financial crisis.

Developed a-five variable VAR model of the Nigeria economy for period 1970 – 2010, the study tested the general wisdom, ―Global financial crisis does not impact on Nigeria economy‖. Data were mainly sourced from both the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the publication of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Philips-Perron (PP) tests were used in testing the null hypothesis that there is a unit root in the time series of interest. The variables considered were (1) log of GDP (2) log of FDI (3) log of REM (4) EXR and (5) CPI. Impulse-response functions were employed to examine the recovery from shocks makes full use of the within-country variation. We introduced the constant term and two lagged values of each variable in each equation and found that the impact of financial crisis on Nigeria was possible through financial links, trade links, remittances and other capital flows.This implies that the common believe about the Nigeria economy that global shocks through financial crisis does not have any impact is not quite accurate, for initially the global shocks made unstable the Nigerian economy through the macroeconomic variables understudied although after the initial instability resulting from the global shocks, the Nigeria economy then dependent less on fluctuations in the global economic crisis. We on that premise opined that the crisis presented an opportunity for Nigeria to unbalance the Nigeria economy by concentrate on leading sectors like power, education, agriculture so that the development of these sector can bring about a locomotive growth and results in balanced sector in the long run

IDENTIFICATION OF CONTRACTORS’ NEEDS IN THE SELECTION OF CONSTRUCTION SUBCONTRACTORS IN NIGERIA

The delivery capability of construction firms is determined to a large extent by the quality of their subcontractors. A survey was therefore undertaken among main contractors to identify and prioritize their needs in the selection of construction subcontractors in Nigeria. Findings were presented from 78 main contractor organizations out of 120 construction firms surveyed in the six geo-political regions of the country. Utilizing the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach, pair-wise comparison matrix and other descriptive statistical techniques, the results indicated that the three most important needs are: subcontractors’ past experience in terms of type and size of projects completed; nature of contract to be executed; and prior relationships with the contractor organizations. The study concluded that for an enhanced performance of construction subcontractors on sites, priority attention should be accorded to some of the identified influencing needs by main contractors in this perspective

Trust your instincts:The relationship between intuitive decision making and happiness

Epstein (1994; 2003) proposed that there are two cognitive information processing systems that operate in parallel: the intuitive thinking style and the rational thinking style. Decisional fit occurs when the preferred thinking style is applied to making a decision and research has shown that this fit increases the value of the outcome of a decision. Additionally, decisional fit leads to less regret, even when post hoc evaluations show the decision to be incorrect. It has not yet been determined whether decisional fit correlates with greater happiness and hence, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the difference between styles of thinking, styles of decision making and the impact of decisional fit on happiness scores. Individual differences in thinking and decision style were measured using an online interactive questionnaire (N = 100), and an ANOVA, hierarchical multiple regression, and a series of t-tests, were used to investigate the relationship between thinking style, decision style, decisional fit, and happiness, thereby addressing a gap in the existing literature. The major findings from the current study show that intuitive thinking has a strong positive correlation with happiness; that intuitive thinkers are more likely to utilize intuitive decisional style, than rational thinkers; and that when both rational and intuitive thinkers experienced decisional fit, higher ratings of happiness were reported. Explanations and recommendations for future studies are outlined in the discussion

Evaluation of human umbilical cord blood as a source of embryonic stem cells

Human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) has been poorly characterised as a source of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate HUCB as source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with embryonic characteristics. HUCB was collected from consenting women undergoing elective caesarean sections. HUCB was meticulously explanted into MesenCult media and incubated. Qualitative and quantitative immunophenotyping of cells was achieved using fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labelled antibodies (CD34, CD45, CD29, CD44, CD73 and CD105) phenotypic markers. Immunocytochemistry was carried out for the human ESC markers CD9, stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 and 4 (SSEA-1 and SSEA-4), E-cadherin, Podocalyxin (PODXL), sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2), NANOG and Octamer (OCT3/4). MSCs were cultured to induce differentiation into adipogenic, osteogenic, chondrogenic and neurogenic cells. Immunocytochemistry was used to identify fatty acid binding protein-4 (FABP-4), osteocalcin, aggrecan, SOX2 and oligodendrocyte-4 (Olig-4) markers. The cells were strongly positive for the MSC markers CD29, CD44, CD73 and CD105; these cells also expressed the ESC markers CD9, SSEA-1 and SSEA-4, E-cadherin, PODXL, SOX2, NANOG and OCT3/4. Additionally, the MSCs expressed the adipogenic FABP-4, osteogenic osteocalcin, chondrogenic aggrecan and neural Olig-4 and SOX2 markers after differentiation. Therefore, HUCB is a rich source for MSCs with embryonic characteristics

Estimating the long run effects of exchange rate devaluation on the trade balance of Nigeria.

This paper attempts an empirical investigation of the impact of currency devaluation on Nigeria trade balance using the Johansen co-integration and variance decomposition analyses from 1970-2010; whether exchange rate devaluation improves or worsens trade balance has been at the centre of literature debate over time with varying empirical evidences for developed and developing nation. The empirical results indicate that there exist a long-run stationary relationship between trade balance and its determinant- domestic income, domestic and foreign money supply, domestic interest rate and nominal exchange rate; as employed in the study. Also, there exists an inelastic and significant relation between trade balance and its determinants. Our major findings include; exchange rate induce an inelastic and significant relation on trade balance in the long run, there exist no short run causality from exchange rate to trade balance and money supply volatility contributes more to variance in trade balance than exchange rate volatility. The paper concludes with important implications for policy makers because it provides evidence supporting that fact that level of money supply has a major impact on trade balance adjustment and that devaluation of the exchange rate worsens the trade balance of Nigeria in the long run

Examining the differences between university students' levels of resilience on mindfulness, psychological distress and coping strategies

University students can face numerous stressors which can contribute to the development of psychological distress shown to be associated with decreasing completion and retention issues throughout Australian universities (Willcoxson, Cotter, & Joy, 2011). A positive predictor and outcome of successful student coping and adjustment to university and retention outcomes is resilience, the ability to cope in difficult situations and bounce back from adversity. Mindfulness has also been shown to be promote resilience. The present study examined differences in psychological distress, mindfulness, and coping strategies (adaptive vs. maladaptive) in university students (N = 122) with high and low levels of resilience. The results of a one-way MANOVA were consistent with hypotheses, revealing higher resilience scores were associated with greater mindfulness, higher adaptive coping scores, lower maladaptive coping, and reduced psychological distress. Students in the low resilience group were also found to have significantly lower levels of mindfulness, higher levels of psychological distress, reduced use of adaptive coping, and greater use of maladaptive coping, when compared to students with high resilience levels. Overall, findings of the current study are consistent with previous research and highlight the potential benefit of mindfulness-based coping interventions to foster resilience in university students

Brunetta’s reform swan song? An assessment of its success in local governments through the analysis of its tools

The work aims at assessing the success of Brunetta’s reform (Legislative Decree n. 150/2009), a far-reaching reform that aimed at improving both organizational and individual performance in Italian public administration through a specific planning and control process (the performance cycle) and most of all through two new tools, Performance Plan and Performance Report. The success of the reform is assessed, with particular emphasis on local governments, analyzing the diffusion and use of these new tools. The study has been conducted using a deductive-inductive methodology. Thus, after a study of managerial reforms in Italy and performance measurement literature, a possible model (PerformEL Model) local governments could follow to draw up Performance Plan and Report as effective tools for performance measurement has been designed (deductive phase). Performance Plans 2011-2013 and Performance Report 2011 downloaded from Italian big sized municipalities’ websites have been analyzed in the light of PerformEL Model, to assess the diffusion of the documents and their coherence with legal requirements and suggestions from literature (inductive phase). Data arising from the empirical analysis have been studied to evaluate the diffusion and the effectiveness of big sized municipalities’ Performance Plans and Reports as performance measurement tools and thus to assess the success of the reform (feedback phase). The study shows a scarce diffusion of the documents; they are mostly drew up because of their compulsoriness or to gain legitimization. The results testify the failure of Brunetta’s reform, at least with regard to local governments

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA SMALL BUSINESSES

Small and Medium-Size Enterprise (SME) growth is on the rise in some of the world’s wealthier economies, resulting from their role play in job creation and revenue generation, through tax for local and central governments. Many SME practitioners around the world, mostly from the low and middle income countries, are mounting pressures on their governments to increase their involvement and support for the SME sector to help maintain its pace. This study aims to evaluate the impact of Performance Measurement System implementation in SMEs; it was carried out with the purpose of assessing whether PM Systems contribute positively or otherwise in SME growth. The outcomes of the study are intended to increase understanding of the impact PM Systems have on SMEs. This study employed questionnaires as a primary method for data collection