Computer science in Dutch secondary education: independent or integrated?

Nowadays, in Dutch secondary education, computer science is integrated within school subjects. About ten years ago computer science was considered an independent subject, but in the mid-1980s this idea changed. In our study we investigated whether the objectives of teaching computer science as an independent subject are met when computer science is integrated within school subjects. The main problem was that there was no formal curriculum of computer science as an independent subject. Therefore we interviewed 13 experts in the field of computer science and then compared this formal curriculum with the operational (integrated) curriculum, which is still in the development stage. It appears that most of the components of the formal curriculum are being covered by the operational curriculum, and we therefore concluded that these curricula are equivalent, although there may be differences in the level of teaching. In our opinion the best approach to computer science is to combine the independent and the integrated approaches

Situation of the Science Libraries in Argentine

The purpose of this work is to introduce the present-day situation of the Libraries of Science in the Argentine Republic, emphasising on there possibilities of access to information. The first division that we can do in this area is: special libraries and academic libraries. This is our starting point. We also point out the Programs or Projects originated in the Ministry of Culture and Education that directly affect the present situation of academic libraries, like the University Interconnection Network (RIU), the Fund for the Improviment of the University Quality (FOMEC), and the University Information System (SIU)

The impact of innovation on employment in Europe: An analysis using CIS data

Technological progress in western economies has contributed to an immense rise in productivity, incomes and goods available over the last hundred years. Though not to the same extent as productivity and wages, population and employment have risen as well. Nevertheless, innovations are often blamed for job destruction and unemployment, with workers historically fighting against technological progress. The impact of innovation on employment today is not as clearcut as it used to be in times of the first factory or the first railroad. The pace of technological progress in an open world economy has accelerated compared to former times, resulting in a greater number of product and process innovations as well as processes related to these product and process innovations. The evolutionary nature of a dynamic, growing market economy results in the perpetual birth and death of firms and the perpetual creation and destruction of jobs -all within a single industry all at the same time. … --

Affective neuroscience, emotional regulation, and international relations

International relations (IR) has witnessed an emerging interest in neuroscience, particularly for its relevance to a now widespread scholarship on emotions. Contributing to this scholarship, this article draws on the subfields of affective neuroscience and neuropsychology, which remain largely unexplored in IR. Firstly, the article draws on affective neuroscience in illuminating affect's defining role in consciousness and omnipresence in social behavior, challenging the continuing elision of emotions in mainstream approaches. Secondly, it applies theories of depth neuropsychology, which suggest a neural predisposition originating in the brain's higher cortical regions to attenuate emotional arousal and limit affective consciousness. This predisposition works to preserve individuals' self-coherence, countering implicit assumptions about rationality and motivation within IR theory. Thirdly, it outlines three key implications for IR theory. It argues that affective neuroscience and neuropsychology offer a route towards deep theorizing of ontologies and motivations. It also leads to a reassessment of the social regulation of emotions, particularly as observed in institutions, including the state. It also suggests a productive engagement with constructivist and poststructuralist approaches by addressing the agency of the body in social relations. The article concludes by sketching the potential for a therapeutically-attuned approach to IR

NINGBO: A REGIONAL CITY LEAPFROG INTO HI-TECH DEVELOPMENT

The dynamic development in Ningbo illustrates local changes that have their basis in government support and resources from all levels of government. The rapid development arises from a combination of excellent infrastructure, a strong private entrepreneurship and strong foreign direct Investment (FDI) to exploit the geographical location which will be further enhanced when the bridge, across Hangzhou Bay to Shanghai, is completed by 2008.Ningbo, a famous port city in China, reached in 2000 a population of six million. It is situated 100 kilometres from Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, and 150 kilometres across the water from Shanghai. In terms of geo-economics Ningbo is an integral part of the dynamic Yangtze Delta region; but Ningbo is also trying to develop its own niche based on its comparative advantage. This is an important feature of China’s regional development model. Ningbo is the native place of Ningbo Bird, the forerunner in China’s, as well as a strong contender in the global, mobile handset industry. Ningbo has traditionally been a location for car component industries with early development of spark plugs and car wheels. The Geely car company has used Ningbo for its national expansion The Ningbo car components industry is expanding fuelled by support from the mould industry and a number of private supplier entrepreneurs. There are three major moulding industry centres in China. The moulding industry in Ningbo now employs about 100,000 workers. Ningbo does not want to remain only in knowledge application but in knowledge creation too. To this end Ningbo has four national-scale development zones, one hi-tech zone and 10 provincial and municipal level development zones which cater to both shipping and trade sectors; it is widely using incubators to stimulate new technologies. The Ningbo Hi-Tech Park is an important hi-tech zone in the region. jointly developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ningbo Municipal Government, it was opened in July 1999. In March 2004, the Chinese Ministry of Education approved the establishment of Ningbo-Nottingham China's first Sino-foreign university. The new university will be founded jointly by the University of Nottingham of Britain and the Zhejiang Wanli University in Ningbo with an investment of RMB600 million.Regional innovation system; local universities; industrial parks; incubators; clusters; industrial zones

Explaining individual differences in linguistic proficiency

Response to peer commentar

MITK-ModelFit: A generic open-source framework for model fits and their exploration in medical imaging -- design, implementation and application on the example of DCE-MRI

Many medical imaging techniques utilize fitting approaches for quantitative parameter estimation and analysis. Common examples are pharmacokinetic modeling in DCE MRI/CT, ADC calculations and IVIM modeling in diffusion-weighted MRI and Z-spectra analysis in chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI. Most available software tools are limited to a special purpose and do not allow for own developments and extensions. Furthermore, they are mostly designed as stand-alone solutions using external frameworks and thus cannot be easily incorporated natively in the analysis workflow. We present a framework for medical image fitting tasks that is included in MITK, following a rigorous open-source, well-integrated and operating system independent policy. Software engineering-wise, the local models, the fitting infrastructure and the results representation are abstracted and thus can be easily adapted to any model fitting task on image data, independent of image modality or model. Several ready-to-use libraries for model fitting and use-cases, including fit evaluation and visualization, were implemented. Their embedding into MITK allows for easy data loading, pre- and post-processing and thus a natural inclusion of model fitting into an overarching workflow. As an example, we present a comprehensive set of plug-ins for the analysis of DCE MRI data, which we validated on existing and novel digital phantoms, yielding competitive deviations between fit and ground truth. Providing a very flexible environment, our software mainly addresses developers of medical imaging software that includes model fitting algorithms and tools. Additionally, the framework is of high interest to users in the domain of perfusion MRI, as it offers feature-rich, freely available, validated tools to perform pharmacokinetic analysis on DCE MRI data, with both interactive and automatized batch processing workflows.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures URL: http://mitk.org/wiki/MITK-ModelFi

Labour markets in a Post-Keynesian growth model: the effects of endogenous productivity growth and working time reduction

We study endogenous employment and distribution dynamics in a Post-Keynesian model of Kalecki-Steindl tradition. Productivity adjustments stabilize employment and the labour share in the long run: technological change allows firms to replenish the reserve army of workers in struggle over income shares and thereby keep wage demands in check. We discuss stability conditions and the equilibrium dynamics. This allows us to study how legal working time and its reduction affect the equilibrium. We find that a demand shock is likely to lower the profit share and increase the employment rate. A supply shock in contrast tends to have detrimental effects on employment and income distribution. Labour market institutions and a working time reduction have no long-term effect on growth, distribution and inflation in the model. The effects on the level of capital stock and output however are positive in a wage-led demand regime. Furthermore, an erosion of labour market institutions dampens inflation temporarily. The model provides possible explanations as to the causes of several current economic phenomena such as secular stagnation, digitalisation, and the break-down of the Philips curve.Series: Ecological Economic Paper

Port-City Development: The Spanish Case

[Abstract]: The objective of this paper is to try to evaluate the port-city relationship from its onset, taking into account the challenges of port 4.0. Indicators such as the percentage of employees participating in training programs, the percentage of female employees in Galician ports, the percentage of merchandise moved by private operators and the percentage of companies with quality certification in Galician ports are evaluated. The fourth revolution is based on the transition from current fossil fuel-based energy models to alternative energy sources, changes in the logistics and transport parameters and finally, on the elimination of intermediation. The key component of the third pillar of new Economy 4.0 is complete digitalization. The optimum port-city solution must address the need of both the urban planner and the port manager to evaluate potential measures that would alleviate the pressure of dedicated port facilities on the city and vice versa to the greatest extent possible