Kartul mahe- ja tavaviljeluse süsteemide võrdluskatses aastatel 2008-2012

Kartul on üheks armastatumaiks kultuuriks nii meil kui maalimas. Kartulit on läbi aegade peetud teiseks „leivaks“ ning tänapäeval ei kujutaks meist keegi ette oma toidulauda, kui sealt puuduks toidukartul. Maheviljelus on Eestis aasta-aastalt laienenud on mahekartulikasvatuse pindala siiski iga aastaga vähenenud. Uurimistöö eesmärk oli uurida kuidas erinevad viljelusviisid mõjutavad mugulate saagistruktuuri elemente ning kui suurt mõju avaldab see saagi kvaliteedile

ICT for inquiry in mathematics: A developmental research approach

Computers and calculators are in general widely used in Norwegian schools, but with limited use in specific school subjects, as particularly in mathematics teaching. Various reports from surveys and research projects indicate that teachers’ competence with ICT is a crucial point, and that teachers’ lack of knowledge of how to utilise software for mathematics is a key challenge for further development. In the project ICT and mathematics learning (ICTML) at the University of Agder, the aim was to support the development of teachers’ competence with ICT in order to improve mathematics teaching, learning, and problem solving with ICT

The Academic Librarians: New Roles and Challenges: a Comparison with Kurt De Belder's "Partners in Knowledge"

For many years libraries have adapted to digital change as this has been expressed on the immediate and tangible levels - books, journals, search & retrieval etc. But they have done so within established institutional and conceptual borders. A wider set of technological, economic and socio-cultural changes are now impacting universities at the framework level. This has consequences for all agents and subunits within the mother institution. In this new situation the academic librarians need to reassess not only their functions and modus operandi, but also their ethos and professional identity. With reference to general traits as exposed by de Belder this paper traces such core challenges facing a library at an institution of higher learning in transition and suggest practical solutions

Power collection and integration on the electric grid from offshore wind parks

There is a lot of potential in offshore wind parks due to the amount of available area. The parks get bigger in size and will continue to grow in the future. In this article a new converter topology for offshore wind parks is proposed. This topology is meant to be for large offshore wind parks sited far from shore and it is based on DC collection and transmission. All the converters are located in the nacelle of the wind turbines and the turbines are connected in series directly connected to shore without any transformation stages. The electrical system, from the generator to the grid connection of the turbine, is modeled in PSCAD. The model consists of an induction machine, a 3-phase AC to 1-phase AC converter, a high frequency high power transformer and a full-bridge converter. The AC-AC converter has a new type of reverse-blocking IGBTs and the switches are controlled with a dedicated switching pattern. The simulations show that the switching pattern gives the expected square wave voltage from the AC-AC converter. The new converter topology reduces the converter losses due to fewer converter stages, the architecture of the reverse-blocking IGBT and the new switching pattern.reviewe

Meanings of knowledge and Identity in public health nursing in a time of transition : interpretations of public health nurses' narratives.

Background: A changing healthcare system affects the professional identity of nursing groups. Public health nursing has experienced challenges in balancing the paternalistic expert ideology and the empowerment participation ideology. A strong professional identity can legitimate nursing, and possibly influence the quality of nursing work. Narrations from practice can illuminate the nurses’ theoretical and practical knowledge and help illustrate their collective professional identity. Aim: To illuminate the meaning of public health nursing knowledge and professional identity in a continuously changing public health nursing practice. Method: A qualitative interview study with a purposeful sample of 23 Norwegian public health nurses was carried out. Data were analysed using phenomenological hermeneutics, a descriptive method inspired by Ricoeur’s philosophy of interpretation. Findings: Three themes emerged (i) Being a generalist: emphasising the need for generalised knowledge and using clinical judgement, (ii) Being one who empowers: focusing on resources and coping strategies, (iii) Being occupied with individual problem solving: focusing on individuals with special needs, using standardised techniques and protocols, and lacking specialised knowledge. Conclusion: Interpretation of the nurses’ stories illuminated their need for generalised evidence-based knowledge, but also the importance of using sound clinical judgement in a diverse complex practice, where service users need encouragement, support and expert advice. Time pressures can limit the nurses‘ involvement. Many had an individual problem-focus more than a primary prevention focus, in contrast to governmental regulations stating that Norwegian public health nurses should focus on health promotion and primary prevention. Public health nurses have a broad generalised knowledge of their special target group giving them a ‘specialist generalist’ role. Clarification of this role, in relation to jurisdictional borders, can create a strong identity at a time when healthcare policy promotes economic values, professional neutrality and increased collaboration

Planning Ahead, Being Prepared: Looking into Future Possibilities for Library Space

OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University (former Oslo and Akershus University College) is a new university, situated in the city center of Oslo, with 20.000 students. Four libraries support research and education at their local campuses, 3 of them situated within a 5 minutes walking distance. The university is growing and the need for working space for the students are increasing. There are various plans to expand the university library, from just revitalize the existing library space, extending the existing premises or merging the three campus libraries and move to new premises. We want to plan ahead of those changes and be prepared for different scenarios. In this paper, we will describe the continuing process of rethinking and redesigning existing library space in a time of big and sometimes unpredictable changes. User centered design methods (UX) will be used for getting information about the use of the premises and the needs and wishes of our students. A new method for visual seat sweeps combined with user surveys will give us better understanding of how and where our users prefer to study. The program Rapal Optimaze will give us visual maps showing the use of seating and the impact of use in different zones in the main library P48. In the same period, we are also recording questions at the circulation desks. All these methods will give us valuable UX variables to consider when planning ahead. The results will be presented together with different scenarios for utilizing the library space for the benefit of our users

Skills Training in Laboratory and Clerkship: Connections, Similarities, and Differences

Context: During the third semester of a 6 year long curriculum medical students train clinical skills in the skills laboratory (2 hours per week for 9 weeks) as well as in an early, 8 week clinical clerkship at county hospitals. Objectives: to study students’ expectations and attitudes towards skills training in the skills laboratory and clerkship. Subjects: 126 medical students in their 3rd semester. Methods: During the fall of 2001 three consecutive, constructed questionnaires were distributed prior to laboratory training, following laboratory training but prior to clerkships, and following clerkships respectively. Results: Almost all (98%) respondents found that training in skills laboratory improved the outcome of the early clerkship and 70% believed in transferability of skills from the laboratory setting to clerkship. Still, a majority (93%) of students thought that the clerkship provided students with a better opportunity to learn clinical skills when compared to the skills laboratory. Skills training in laboratory as well as in clerkship motivated students for becoming doctors. Teachers in both settings were perceived as being committed to their teaching jobs, to demonstrate skills prior to practice, and to give students feed back with a small but significant more positive rating of the laboratory. Of the 22 skills that students had trained in the laboratory, a majority of students tried out skills associated with physical examination in the clerkship, whereas only a minority of students tried out more intimate skills. Female medical students tried significantly fewer skills during their clerkship compared to male students. Conclusions: Students believe that skills laboratory training prepare them for their subsequent early clerkship but favour the clerkship over the laboratory

Critical alignment in inquiry-based practice in developing mathematics teaching

This paper reports a case study from a mathematics teaching developmental research project. The theoretical foundation for the research comprises communities of inquiry and critical alignment, with which the developmental methodology has a particular synergy. This synergy is the main focus of the paper. The paper elaborates theoretical and methodological antecedents of the project and traces these through a case study of developments in the practices of one upper secondary school team and a group of university didacticians (mathematics teacher educators and researchers) during the first year of the project. The case study reveals that critical alignment and inquiry (necessarily) bring uncertainty and risk, and foster tensions within the teachers’ practice and between the practices of teachers and didacticians. In exposing these uncertainties, risks and tensions, the paper points to their value for the learning and knowledge gained by participants