Testing ZELPH ['sɛlf] – a self-assessment instrument to surface intended and unintended outcomes of work-integrating pedagogies

This paper's twofold purpose is, first, to present ZELPH ['sɛlf], a self-assessment instrument that enables those developing the pedagogy of work-integrating study programmes in higher education (HE) systematically to surface the intended and unintended outcomes of their programme's approach to integrating professional practice into an academic course. Secondly, the paper reports on a small pilot study with programme staff from five different HE institutions in various countries who tested ZELPH. Design/methodology/approach ZELPH operationalises aspects of key theories on work-integrating learning pedagogy, and thereby enables a simplified depiction of the reality of combining classroom-based and worksite-based learning. Programme staff from Germany, the United Kingdom, France, South Africa and Taiwan applied the instrument to their respective work-integrating study programmes and evaluated its perceived value and feasibility. Findings The findings suggest that ZELPH offers value as a practical instrument, in particular to those less familiar with developing work-integrating learning pedagogy as well as to those keen to compare programmes across national, cultural and institutional contexts. Originality/value ZELPH contributes to addressing the lack of practically applicable instruments to support the design and international benchmarking of work-integrating learning pedagogy in HE

Homo subjectivus: shoehorning customer-centric reform into the subjectivities of Abu Dhabi's public administrators

Public administrators are the people who not only administer public services, but who are also expected to carry out reform and to embed 'new ways of doing things' in the machinery and mentality of public sector organisations. Yet, research has shown that, in pursuing change initiatives, due attention is rarely paid to how public administrators feel, think and make meaning. As a direct consequence, public administrative reforms frequently disappoint by failing to generate the promised positive results. Hence, this thesis explores the nebulous phenomenon of subjective meaning-making in the context of Abu Dhabi Government's customercentric reform. This is accomplished in two practical steps: Firstly, the study employs Q Methodology to identify five viewpoints that different groups of public administrators share: (1) The benefactor's epic fail, (2) Managerialism in modern Arabiya, (3) Triumph of the cherished patriarch, (4) The traditional ways of the Bedouins, and (5) The reign of formulas over culture. In the second step, a Cultural Reference Group drills down into each shared viewpoint to reveal group-specific knowledge structures, or collective schemata. The study discovers that content schemata and context schemata interact with situational influencers in producing shared viewpoints, and a socio-cognitive model is proposed to illuminate these processes. The findings contribute to an understanding of the subjective constructions that public administrators share at group-level, and how these impact ou the opportunities for meaningful reform

Auswirkung der wiederholten antenatalen Kortikosteroidbehandlung auf das intrauterine Wachstum und auf die Grössenentwicklung imKleinkindesalter

Objective:The evaluation of the effects of repeated antenatal corticosteriod (CS) medication on birth size and size at the age of 4 years. Methods: 82 children exposed to CS initially between 26 and 28 weeks of gestation were matched with 82 controls of the same gestational age and sex. Results: No differences were observed between the CS and control groups with regard to weight, head circumference, and length at birth and at the age of 4 years. Conclusions: Our study failed to demonstrate that repetitive antenatal medication with CS in order to induce lung maturation has a negative im pact on intrauterine growth and growth in early childhood. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

The impact of androgen receptor polymorphism and parental ethnicity on semen quality in young men from Latvia

Recent studies on young men from the general population have demonstrated geographic and ethnic differences in semen quality. The aim of this study was to investigate whether reported ethnic differences in semen quality might be associated with the maternally derived CAG and GGN polymorphisms in the androgen receptor gene or paternal ethnicity. In total 114 military conscripts from Latvia were included in the study. Information on maternal and parental ethnicity was collected by questionnaires. CAG and GGN repeats were analysed by direct sequencing of leukocyte DNA. Men with Latvian mothers (n = 83) had marginally shorter CAG repeat length (21.6 ± 2.9) as compared with those with non-Latvian mothers (22.9 ± 3.2, n = 31), not reaching statistical significance (p = 0.053). Sperm concentration did not differ significantly between these two groups (76 ± 59 and 70 ± 52, p = 0.9 respectively). In contrast, significantly higher sperm concentration and total sperm count were found in men with Latvian fathers (n = 77) as compared with men with non-Latvian fathers (n = 37) (80 ± 61 vs. 62 ± 48, p = 0.035, for sperm concentration and 225.7 ± 209 vs. 158.4 ± 134.4, p = 0.002, for total sperm count respectively). CAG repeat length did not correlate with any semen parameters in the whole population. However, GGN repeat length correlated with semen volume: men with GGN > 23 presented with higher semen volume (3.2 ± 2.1) as compared with men with GGN = 23 (2.6 ± 1.3, p = 0.04) or GGN < 23 (2.0 ± 1.2, p = 0.006). We conclude that GGN repeat length has an impact on semen volume, whereas differences in sperm numbers are associated with the paternal ethnicity.Peer reviewe

Anogenital distance as a marker of androgen exposure in humans.

Abnormal foetal testis development has been proposed to underlie common disorders of the male reproductive system such as cryptorchidism, hypospadias, reduced semen quality and testicular germ cell tumour, which are regarded as components of a 'testicular dysgenesis syndrome'. The increasing trends and geographical variation in their incidence have been suggested to result from in utero exposure to environmental chemicals acting as endocrine disruptors. In rodents, the anogenital distance (AGD), measured from the anus to the base of genital tubercle, is a sensitive biomarker of androgen exposure during a critical embryonic window of testis development. In humans, several epidemiological studies have shown alterations in AGD associated with prenatal exposure to several chemicals with potential endocrine disrupting activity. However, the link between AGD and androgen exposure in humans is not well-defined. This review focuses on the current evidence for such a relationship. As in rodents, a clear gender difference is detected during foetal development of the AGD in humans which is maintained thereafter. Reduced AGD in association with clinically relevant outcomes of potential environmental exposures, such as cryptorchidism or hypospadias, is in keeping with AGD as a marker of foetal testicular function. Furthermore, AGD may reflect variations in prenatal androgen exposure in healthy children as shorter AGD at birth is associated with reduced masculine play behaviour in preschool boys. Several studies provide evidence linking shorter AGD with lower fertility, semen quality and testosterone levels in selected groups of adults attending andrology clinics. Overall, the observational data in humans are consistent with experimental studies in animals and support the use of AGD as a biomarker of foetal androgen exposure. Future studies evaluating AGD in relation to reproductive hormones in both infants and adults, and to gene polymorphisms, will help to further delineate the effect of prenatal and postnatal androgen exposures on AGD.The CBGS studies referred to in this review were supported by a European Union Framework V programme, the World Cancer Research Fund International, the Medical Research Council (UK), the Newlife Foundation, the Mothercare Foundation, the Evelyn Trust and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/andr.1215

Enhancement of cadmium removal by oxygen-doped carbon nitride with molybdenum and sulphur hybridization

Graphitic carbon nitride, as a popular material in the field of environmental remediation, still suffers from unsatisfactory performance for heavy metals adsorption owing to lack of specific adsorption sites. In this study, molybdenum (Mo) and sulphur (S) were simultaneously introduced onto the surface of oxygen-doped graphitic carbon nitride (OCN) for the enhancement of Cd2+ adsorption. The synthesized MOS/OCN-1 exhibited substantially increased maximum adsorption capacity of 293.8 mg/g, calculated from Sips isotherm model, which was 8.7 times higher than that for pristine OCN (33.9 mg/g). The adsorption efficiency of MOS/OCN-1 was >94% even under high concentration of coexisting ions (ie. Ca2+, Mg2+ and Zn2+). MoO3 and MoS2 on the surface of OCN were proven to interact with Cd2+ by forming CdMoO4 and CdS species. OCN provided a stable matrix with a large surface area making more active sites exposed, which greatly facilitated Mo(IV) oxidation and Cd2+ precipitation. Our findings revealed that as well as the well-known Cd-S interaction, Mo atoms in the hybrid composites also played an important role in Cd2+ removal, which opened up the application possibility of OCN with Mo and S hybridization for in-situ Cd2+ remediation

Use of Allusion in British and American Political Speeches

Šajā bakalaura darbā tiek pētītas alūzijas. Darba mērķis ir piedāvāt teorētiskās atziņas par alūzijām un autores atziņas, kas iegūtas analizējot alūzijas četru britu premjerministru un četru Amerikas Savienoto Valstu prezidentu politiskajās runās. Teorētiskās (teoriju analīze) un empīriskās (kvalitatīvā diskursa analīze) pētījumu metodes tika pielietotas pētījumā. Rezultāti rāda, ka politiķi izmanto alūzijas savās runās, bet tās mēdz būt raksturīgas noteiktai kultūras grupai. Alūziju daudzums runā ir atkarīgs no katra individuālā runātāja, tomēr lielāks atrasto alūziju skaits bija amerikāņu politiskajās runās. Autore arī secina, ka alūziju izpratnei ir nepieciešamas iepriekšējas zināšanas par problēmu, kurai alūzija ir veltīta. Atslēgas vārdi: retorika, politiskais diskurss, alūzija, publicistiskais stils, plašsaziņas līdzekļi, oratoriskais stilsThe present Bachelor Thesis examines allusions. The purpose of the paper is to present theoretical findings on allusions and the author’s findings when analysing allusions spotted in political speeches of four British Prime Ministers and four presidents of the United States of America. Theoretical (analysis of theories) and empirical (qualitative discourse analysis) research methods were used in the research. The findings show that politicians use allusions in their speeches; the allusions tend to be culture-conscious. The number of allusions employed depends on the preferences of each individual speaker, but the number of allusions detected was higher in American political speeches. The author also concludes that allusions require prior knowledge of the matter alluded to. Key words: rhetoric, political discourse, allusion, publicistic style, mass media, oratorical styl