Inclusive Higher Education Access for Underrepresented Groups: It Matters, But How Can Universities Measure It?

Measuring access to higher education for underrepresented groups is a relevant yet challenging task. The article shows that while social inclusion is recognised as a priority, policymakers, academics, and institutional leaders struggle to define, operationalise, and measure it. This makes answering the question of what constitutes a socially inclusive higher education institution quite difficult. While the answer to this question may be context‐specific, there is a clear need for a set of commonly defined indicators that allow higher education institutions to measure their progress throughout time and in relation to others. The article synthesises insights from policy, practise, and scientific research to identify which indicators are the most promising for assessing the access of under‐representative students to higher education. By discussing indicator relevance, validity and feasibility, the article contributes to the quest for internationally comparable social inclusion indicators of underrepresented student groups

Violencia en América Latina: ¿qué factores aumentan el riesgo de ser victimizado dentro de la prisión?

This paper contributes to the literature on violence in Latin American prisons by identifying a set of risk factors likely to increase prison victimization for male inmates. Drawing on data from six Latin American countries gathered by the “Survey of Prison Inmates”, our findings suggest that inmates are more likely to experience victimization if they: are young, were victimized as children, receive fewer visits while incarcerated, are recidivists, use alcohol and/or other substances while incarcerated, perceive prison staff to be corrupt, and are imprisoned in overcrowded facilities. Inmates are less likely to be victimized if they are imprisoned for a drug offense, or if they dedicate most of their time behind bars to work or to educational activities. The paper also suggests a number of intervention strategies aimed at reducing prison violence and strengthening the reintegration potential of correctional institutions.El artículo contribuye a expandir el conocimiento sobre la violencia en contexto de encierro en América Latina, a partir del análisis de la Encuesta a Personas Privadas de Libertad realizada en seis países de la región. Identifica los factores de riesgo que incrementan la vulnerabilidad de los varones privados de libertad a ser victimizados dentro de la prisión. Los resultados muestran que las personas detenidas más proclives a ser víctimas de violencia dentro de la prisión son quienes tienen menor edad, fueron víctimas de violencia durante su infancia, reciben visitas poco frecuentes, son reincidentes, consumen alcohol y/o drogas dentro del penal, conciben cierto nivel de corrupción entre los agentes de seguridad y/o, además, están en penales con problemas de hacinamiento. En la misma línea, quienes emplean la mayor parte de su tiempo dentro del penal en trabajar y/o estudiar, y/o quienes están detenidos por drogas son menos propensos a ser victimizados. El artículo sugiere posibles estrategias de intervención para erradicar la violencia dentro de los centros penitenciarios, para reforzar su rol “reintegrador”

Validation of a brief self-report measure of adolescent bullying perpetration and victimisation

Although a wide range of measures of bullying have been developed, there remains a need for brief psychometrically supported measures for use in contexts in which there are constraints on the number of items that can be administered. We thus evaluated the reliability and validity of scores from a 10-item self-report measure of bullying victimization and perpetration in adolescents: the Zurich Brief Bullying Scales. The measure covers social exclusion, property destruction, verbal and physical aggression, and sexual bullying in both traditional and cyber forms. We evaluated factorial validity, internal consistency, developmental invariance, gender invariance, and convergent and divergent validity of the measure. Our sample was the normative longitudinal Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) sample (N = 1,304). The study involved the administration of Zurich Brief Bullying Scales to participants aged 11, 13, 15, and 17 years. Strengths and weaknesses of the measure and recommendations for utilizing and improving the measure were identified. Overall, results suggest that the items provide a reasonable general but brief measure of bullying victimization and perpetration that can be used across early to late adolescence and in both males and females

Les Alpes en 3D. Un voyage virtuel à travers la Suisse et le massif du Mont Blanc en 1900

Il s'agit d'une exposition virtuelle en libre accès, illustrée de 280 images et disponible en quatre langues. Elle retrace l’histoire des voyages stéréoscopiques depuis 1850 jusqu’à nos jours. Elle permet de voyager en 2D sur les itinéraires de l’époque, mais aussi en 3D, en se munissant de lunettes anaglyphes. Le parcours dans les Alpes suisse et dans le Massif du Mont Blanc s’effectue grâce à une série de cartes interactives, sur lesquelles ont été géo-localisées les 100 stéréophotographies de l'ouvrage : Mabel Sarah Emery, "Switzerland through the stereoscope; a journey over and around the Alps", Underwood & Underwood, New-York, 1901

Forage silica and water content control dental surface texture in guinea pigs and provide implications for dietary reconstruction

Recent studies have shown that phytoliths are softer than dental enamel but still act as abrasive agents. Thus, phytolith content should be reflected in dental wear. Because native phytoliths show lower indentation hardness than phytoliths extracted by dry ashing, we propose that the hydration state of plant tissue will also affect dental abrasion. To assess this, we performed a controlled feeding experiment with 36 adult guinea pigs, fed exclusively with three different natural forages: lucerne, timothy grass, and bamboo with distinct phytolith/silica contents (lucerne < grass < bamboo). Each forage was fed in fresh or dried state for 3 weeks. We then performed 3D surface texture analysis (3DST) on the upper fourth premolar. Generally, enamel surface roughness increased with higher forage phytolith/silica content. Additionally, fresh and dry grass feeders displayed differences in wear patterns, with those of fresh grass feeders being similar to fresh and dry lucerne (phytolith-poor) feeders, supporting previous reports that "fresh grass grazers" show less abrasion than unspecialized grazers. Our results demonstrate that not only phytolith content but also properties such as water content can significantly affect plant abrasiveness, even to such an extent that wear patterns characteristic for dietary traits (browser-grazer differences) become indistinguishable