Actual Skills Research Articles

Skill of a global forecasting system in seasonal ensemble streamflow prediction

Abstract. In this study we assess the skill of seasonal streamflow forecasts with the global hydrological forecasting system Flood Early Warning System (FEWS)-World, which has been set up within the European Commission 7th Framework Programme Project Global Water Scarcity Information Service (GLOWASIS). FEWS-World incorporates the distributed global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB (PCRaster Global Water Balance). We produce ensemble forecasts of monthly discharges for 20 large rivers of the world, with lead times of up to 6 months, forcing the system with bias-corrected seasonal meteorological forecast ensembles from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and with probabilistic meteorological ensembles obtained following the ESP procedure. Here, the ESP ensembles, which contain no actual information on weather, serve as a benchmark to assess the additional skill that may be obtained using ECMWF seasonal forecasts. We use the Brier skill score (BSS) to quantify the skill of the system in forecasting high and low flows, defined as discharges higher than the 75th and lower than the 25th percentiles for a given month, respectively. We determine the theoretical skill by comparing the results against model simulations and the actual skill in comparison to discharge observations. We calculate the ratios of actual-to-theoretical skill in order to quantify the percentage of the potential skill that is achieved. The results suggest that the performance of ECMWF S3 forecasts is close to that of the ESP forecasts. While better meteorological forecasts could potentially lead to an improvement in hydrological forecasts, this cannot be achieved yet using the ECMWF S3 dataset.

Do Irish Adolescents Have Adequate Functional Movement Skill and Confidence?

Recent research has shown that post-primary Irish youth are insufficiently active and fail to reach a level of proficiency across basic fundamental movement skills. The purpose of the current research was to gather cross-sectional data on adolescent youth, differentiated by gender, specifically to inform the development of a targeted movement-oriented intervention. Data were collected on adolescents (N = 219; mean age : 14.45 ± 0.96 years), within two, mixed-gender schools. Data collection included actual and perceived movement measurements comprised of fundamental movement skills, the functional movement screen, perceived movement confidence, and perceived functional confidence. Overall, levels of actual mastery within fundamental and functional movement were low, with significant gender differences observed. Adolescent males scored higher in the overall fundamental movement skill domain (male mean score = 70.87 ± 7.05; female mean score = 65.53 ± 7.13), yet lower within the functional movement screen (male mean score = 13.58 ± 2.59), in comparison to their female counterparts (female mean score = 14.70 ± 2.16). There were high levels of perceived confidence reported within fundamental and functional movement scales. Future intervention strategies should combat the low levels of actual movement skill proficiency, while identifying the reasons for higher perceived movement confidence within adolescents.

Online adaptive assistance control in robot-based neurorehabilitation therapy.

Repetitive and task specific robot-based rehabilitation has been proved to be effective for motor recovery over time. During a therapy, the task should improve subject's impaired movements, but also enhance their efforts for a more effective recovery. This requires an accurate tuning of the task difficulty, which should be tailored directly to the patient. In this work, we propose a system for real-time assistance adaptation based on online performance evaluation for post-stroke subjects. In particular, the aim of the system is to implement the "assist-as-needed" paradigm based on actual patients' motor skills during a therapy session with an active upper-limb robotic exoskeleton. The strength of the work is to propose a real-time algorithm for the assistance tuning based on an "assistance-performance" relationship. Such a relationship is based on experimental measurements, and allows the algorithm to compute a straightforward calculation of the assistance required. Finally, an assessment phase will show how the system provides assistance based on the difficulties experienced from the subjects, also facilitating their adaptation during the task.

Comparing determinants of perceived and actual recycling skills: The role of motivational, behavioral and dispositional factors

ABSTRACTAn empirical investigation assessed the role of different factors of motivational, behavioral, and dispositional nature in the prediction of both perceived and actual skills concerning household waste recycling. A structured questionnaire (measuring attitudes, social norms, perceived control, need for cognitive closure, self-reported household recycling behavior and perceived recycling skills) and a simulation task (assessing actual recycling skills) were administered to 300 participants in Italy. Results indicate that, although positively related, perceived and actual skills are two distinct constructs differently related to motivational, behavioral, and dispositional factors. Implications for designing educational interventions to increase citizens' recycling skills are discussed.

When Children’s Perceived and Actual Motor Competence Mismatch: Sport Participation and Gender Differences

This study examined the (mis)match between children’s perceived and actual motor skill competence, the role played by sport practice and gender when children under- or overestimate their motor competence, and the biomechanical correlates of perceived competence and perceived–actual competence (mis)match. Ninety children aged 7.5±1.2 years performed the Tests of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2), with a subsample of 44 children wearing inertial sensor devices for objective measurement of running and throwing, and completed the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence. Scores of perceived locomotor and object control competence were regressed on TGMD data. Underestimators (UE), realists (R), and overestimators (OE) were identified and it was assessed whether they differed in gender, amount of sport practice, and selected biomechanical parameters. Differences emerged with respect to gender, with most girls underestimating and most boys overestimating their object control competence, and with respect to sport participation, with OE of locomotor competence practicing a larger amount of sport than UE. Some kinematic parameters were associated with perceived competence without differences between UE, R, and OE. Results suggest: (a) the need for specific motivation strategies to ensure a skill-appropriate enhancement of perceived competence in girls; (b) the relevance of feeling skilled for sport practice; (c) the added value of biomechanical assessment to further our understanding of perceived motor competence.

What is the Contribution of Actual Motor Skill, Fitness, and Physical Activity to Children’s Self-Perception of Motor Competence?

This study aimed to examine the contribution of objective measures of physical fitness (musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory), physical activity, and motor skill to motor perception. A total of 122 children (63 boys) aged 8–11 years were assessed. Independentt-tests assessed sex differences in all variables. Two linear mixed models adjusted for sex and age were performed with perceived object control and locomotor skills (Pictorial Scale of the Perceived Movement Skill Competence for Young Children) as outcomes. Aerobic (multi-stage fitness test) and muscular fitness (long jump, grip strength), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (ActiGraph accelerometry), movement skill (Test of Gross Motor Development-2), age, and sex were predictors. Boys had higher object control skills (actual and perceived) and fitness. Age (decreasing) and long jump distance (positive) explained 16% of locomotor skill perception variance. Sex (boys) explained 13% of object control skill perception variance. Children’s skill self-perception may be influenced by fitness attributes as these are more evident to them. The fact that girls have lower actual object control competence and fitness than boys suggests girls may be an intervention target.

Perceived and Actual Movement Skill Competence: The Association Among Primary School Children in Hong Kong

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between perceived and actual movement skill competence among primary school children in Hong Kong. Participants were 568 primary (P) school children (229 boys, 339 girls;Mage = 9.3 years,SD = 1.7). Children’s perceived skill competence was assessed using an identical format to that of Harter’s Self-Perception Profile for Children in the same 12 fundamental movement skills (FMS) objectively measured. The actual locomotor and object control skills were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development (2nd edition). Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the association between children’s perceived and actual movement skill competence separately for lower (P1–P3) and upper (P4–P6) grades. There was no association between students’ perceptions and actual FMS scores. MANCOVA results indicated that children in upper grades had significantly lower skill perceptions than their younger counterparts. Overall, boys had higher perceptions of object control skill than girls did. The findings indicate that many primary school children have inaccurate perceptions of their FMS competence. These misperceptions may lead to low self-confidence and to gradually opting out of sport and physical activity.

Doctor-Patient Communication, What is the Situation? An Intervention Study at a Selected Governmental Hospital in Sharkia Governorate

Background: Good doctor-patient communication has multiple impacts as higher compliance, satisfaction for both patients and clinicians and decrease in malpractice. Objective(s): To assess physicians’ perception towards importance of effective doctor-patient communication, as well as to measure their actual practice and skills of communication according to the items of the Kalamazoo checklist before and after training program. Methods: An intervention study was carried out at outpatient clinics in a general hospital at Zagazig district. A randomly selected sample of 198 physicians was chosen. The phases of the study were: 1- Assessing the level of doctor patient communication practice using the Kalamazoo Checklist. 2- Assessing physicians’ perception towards effective communication, using a self-administered questionnaire. 3- Assessing the level of doctor patient communication practice after training program. Results: 46.5% of physicians highly perceived the importance of effective communication; with higher perception among females. The highest perceived items (more than 80%) were the effect of good communication on patients’ compliance, patients’ satisfaction and physicians’ satisfaction. The intervention program significantly improved the physicians’ communication skills. Conclusion: Less than half of the physicians highly perceived the importance of effective communication. Training can significantly impact communication skills. Keywords : doctor-patient communication

Development of the Digital Health Literacy Instrument: Measuring a Broad Spectrum of Health 1.0 and Health 2.0 Skills.

BackgroundWith the digitization of health care and the wide availability of Web-based applications, a broad set of skills is essential to properly use such facilities; these skills are called digital health literacy or eHealth literacy. Current instruments to measure digital health literacy focus only on information gathering (Health 1.0 skills) and do not pay attention to interactivity on the Web (Health 2.0). To measure the complete spectrum of Health 1.0 and Health 2.0 skills, including actual competencies, we developed a new instrument. The Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI) measures operational skills, navigation skills, information searching, evaluating reliability, determining relevance, adding self-generated content, and protecting privacy.ObjectiveOur objective was to study the distributional properties, reliability, content validity, and construct validity of the DHLI’s self-report scale (21 items) and to explore the feasibility of an additional set of performance-based items (7 items).MethodsWe used a paper-and-pencil survey among a sample of the general Dutch population, stratified by age, sex, and educational level (T1; N=200). The survey consisted of the DHLI, sociodemographics, Internet use, health status, health literacy and the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). After 2 weeks, we asked participants to complete the DHLI again (T2; n=67). Cronbach alpha and intraclass correlation analysis between T1 and T2 were used to investigate reliability. Principal component analysis was performed to determine content validity. Correlation analyses were used to determine the construct validity.ResultsRespondents (107 female and 93 male) ranged in age from 18 to 84 years (mean 46.4, SD 19.0); 23.0% (46/200) had a lower educational level. Internal consistencies of the total scale (alpha=.87) and the subscales (alpha range .70-.89) were satisfactory, except for protecting privacy (alpha=.57). Distributional properties showed an approximately normal distribution. Test-retest analysis was satisfactory overall (total scale intraclass correlation coefficient=.77; subscale intraclass correlation coefficient range .49-.81). The performance-based items did not together form a single construct (alpha=.47) and should be interpreted individually. Results showed that more complex skills were reflected in a lower number of correct responses. Principal component analysis confirmed the theoretical structure of the self-report scale (76% explained variance). Correlations were as expected, showing significant relations with age (ρ=–.41, P<.001), education (ρ=.14, P=.047), Internet use (ρ=.39, P<.001), health-related Internet use (ρ=.27, P<.001), health status (ρ range .17-.27, P<.001), health literacy (ρ=.31, P<.001), and the eHEALS (ρ=.51, P<.001).ConclusionsThis instrument can be accepted as a new self-report measure to assess digital health literacy, using multiple subscales. Its performance-based items provide an indication of actual skills but should be studied and adapted further. Future research should examine the acceptability of this instrument in other languages and among different populations.

Virtual Teach-To-Goal™ Adaptive Learning of Inhaler Technique for Inpatients with Asthma or COPD

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) result in more than 1 million hospitalizations annually. Most hospitalized patients misuse respiratory inhalers. This misuse can be corrected with in-person education; however, this strategy is resource intensive and skills wane quickly after discharge. The objective of this study was to develop and pilot a virtual teach-to-goal™ (V-TTG™) inhaler skill training module, using innovative adaptive learning technology. Eligible adults with asthma or COPD completed a V-TTG™ metered-dose inhaler session with tailored rounds of narrated demonstration and self-assessments. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants with inhaler misuse post- versus pre-V-TTG™; secondary analyses tested mastery, self-efficacy, and perceived versus actual inhaler skills. Analyses were tested with McNemar's χ2 test (P < .05). Among 90 enrolled participants, the majority were African American (94%), female (62%), and had asthma (68%), with a mean age of 48 years. Among those completing both pre- and post-V-TTG™ (n= 83), misuse was significantly lower post- versus pre-V-TTG™ (24% vs 83%, P < .001). Mastery and confidence both improved significantly (46% vs 7%, P < 0.001; 83% vs 67%, P < .001) post- versus pre-V-TTG™. After V-TTG™, there was greater congruence between perceived versus actual inhaler skills (P < .01). No differences were seen in subgroup analyses for age, health literacy level, or diagnosis. This study is the first to demonstrate the efficacy of adaptive V-TTG™ learning to teach the inhaler technique. V-TTG™ improved most participants' technique to an acceptable level, reached mastery for half, and also increased self-efficacy and actualized skill. V-TTG™ has potential to improve health care across care transitions.

Cueing Employability in the Gig Economy: Effects of Task-Relevant and Task-Irrelevant Information on Fiverr

When evaluating an applicant online, individuals are often concurrently exposed to a diverse cross-section of self- and other-generated information with varying relevance to the candidate’s actual job skills. Moreover, these various data may not always be internally consistent. Utilizing profiles on the microtask site Fiverr, a fully-crossed 2 × 2 × 2 experiment (N= 92) tested main and interaction effects of exposure positively- and negatively-valenced (1) self-generated task-relevant, (2) self-generated task-irrlevant photographic, and (3) other-generated task-relevant information, all within the same stimulus. Contrast analyses results support significant interactions among cues on perceptions of an applicants’ employability and person-job fit. The significant two- and three-way interactions are discussed with respect to warranting theory and the halo effect, and practical implications for applicants and employers are presented.

Factory Draughtsmen in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century France

This paper examines little-known actors of the art world: factory draughtsmen. The work of these oft-forgotten artists consisted in decorating everyday objects such as silk, wallpaper, and ceramics. Although it was considered a minor artform, factory draughtsmanship required a similar skillset to that of fine art. The lack of recognition of this job, positioned halfway between art and trade, will be analysed by focusing first on the case of draughtsmen in the silk industry in Lyon, and then on the names used to refer to draughtsmen in technical literature and daily-life archives, which tend to reflect status-related struggles and the history of internal hierarchies rather than actual skills needed for the job.

Comparison of experienced vs. novice teachers in cognitive reflection and rationality

No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time. Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-GlassWhen dealing with the issue of rational choices, researchers usually come with a rather bleak picture of human rationality - it seems that in most cases we are unable to consistently pick normatively correct choices. It has been shown that people will exert as little mental effort as possible and only rarely check their intuitive, albeit incorrect responses (Alter, Oppenheimer, Epley, & Eyre, 2007; De Neys, Rossi, & Houde, 2013; Sinayev & Peters, 2015). One of the solutions would be to teach people skills that would help them solve rational tasks correctly (mindware; Stanovich, 2011) and thus enhance rationality in everyday life. This suggestion seems very reasonable; however, little research has been done on whether teachers themselves possess this kind of mindware, although we often seem to expect from teachers more than is in their human power.Teachers are very important in education. According to Hattie (2003), factors related to the teacher account for about 30% of the variance in a student?s achievement. He describes a teacher as a ?person who gently closes the classroom door and performs the teaching act - the person who puts into place the end effects of so many policies, who interprets these policies, and who is alone with students during their 15,000 hours of schooling? (Hattie, 2003, p. 2-3). Among the prototypical attributes of expertise in teaching, he lists five that are directly related to the teacher?s decision making, planning and rationality. For example, according to Hattie (2003) an expert teacher, due to extensive practice, is able to rely on automatization of cognitive skills and this enables him/ her to free working memory to deal with other more complex characteristics of the situation. Together with deeper representations about teaching and learning, it also makes the teacher better in recognizing sequences of events occurring in the classroom that in some way affect the learning and teaching of a topic. Thus, the teacher can make better predictions and decisions about the next course of events. Large repertoire of various teaching situations helps him/her to better anticipate, plan, and improvise as required by the situation. Recognizing patterns in these various teaching situations also allows for better decision-making and identification of more or less important decisions. From this brief description it is already clear that what distinguishes an expert teacher from a merely experienced one are the abilities of deeper reflection of the teaching situation, better planning and decision-making. This is in line with findings from studies using expert populations in real life settings (Klein, 1998).Research in education psychology often concentrates on comparing effectiveness of various teaching styles and personality of teachers, but relatively little is known about actual cognitive skills and thinking dispositions of teachers. Thinking dispositions are, however, one of the crucial aspects of rationality with practical consequences. Pennycook, Fugelsang, and Koehler (2015) showed that the mere willingness to engage analytical thinking as means to overcome intuitive ?internal feeling? is a significant predictor of real-world behavior and decision making. For example, more analytical thinkers are more skeptical towards religious, paranormal, and conspiracy concepts. The few studies that have been conducted in Slovakia examining critical thinking of highschool teachers show that teachers of secondary schools achieved unsatisfactory results in critical thinking. Compared to their British counterparts, Slovak teachers scored about 23.10 points lower, and the best Slovak respondent reached only the 20th percentile of the British sample (Kosturkov?, 2013), which is rather an alarming finding. Kosturkov? (2013) used the Watson-Glasser test of critical thinking in her studies, which is a rather long and difficult measure. …

ЛІНГВОДИДАКТИЧНА КОНТРОЛЬНО-ОЦІНЮВАЛЬНА CТРАТЕГІЯ У ПРОЦЕСІ НАВЧАННЯ ЯК СПІЛКУВАННЯ

Background: The necessity to define the role and conceptual framework of evaluation and assessment in a pedagogical discourse has gained importance in the context of the on-going educational reform in Ukraine. This urges national educa­tionalists to explore the formative assessment and evaluation in secondary school from the standpoint of the strategic and communicative approaches. Purpose: The purpose of the article is to discuss the necessity and effectiveness of implementing the strategy of formative assessment and evaluation as a teaching-learning model based on English communication and suggest some methods and techniques of evaluation and assessment which will be tested empirically in the next phase of our research. Discussion: Assessment and evaluation are very challenging issues, since they require advanced skills of choosing the tasks, writing instructions and developing proper evaluation criteria. Only valid tasks can become an effective mechanism to put communication between a student and a teacher into effect. At school, there are two main types of assessment: formative and summative. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, teachers are required to execute summative assessment twice a year through a direct test which assesses actual skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). The assessment procedure – that mainly responds to accountability interests – relies on standardized evaluation criteria, and the results of assessment include information on a full range of tasks and activities completed. However, there are no specific criteria for formative assessment activities which aim at making judgement about the process of learning instead of its result. Results: The literature overview has enabled the authors to come up with the conclusion that only formative assessment and evaluation carried out on a frequent basis could be utilised as a communicative tool between a student and a teacher. The authors also claim that verbal assessment proved an effective technique of assessment for learning in the context of second­ary school education.

Formación Inicial Docente (FID) y Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) en la Universidad de Magallanes – Patagonia Chilena

The educational proposals offered in higher education must be kept always contextualized and relevant to the needs of social development and the labour market. All this for a successful insertion into this world that approaches our students, and for which we have a responsibility from our house of studies that is attributable to our mission: Forming human capital for the world that will be printed to us. Consequently, the world of education requires the training of professionals who are qualified to anchor and extrapolate to their educational practices, concepts that seem to be basic in the society in which we interact, where we will promptly focus on core competencies related to ICT, which have been declared by the society of the economy and the world of the Academy as key competences to be able to participate in society. In order to guide the inclusion of these competencies and its real habilitation as an exit competency for the students of pedagogy in Chile, the Ministry of Education defined more than five years ago a set of standards to be incorporated and developed throughout the pre-service training process for promoting their adoption as a regular practice in future teachers, thus formalizing their transfer and irradiation in Chilean children. Therefore, the current investigation reviews the “ICT Competences and Standards for the teaching profession” in Chile in order to be able to compare results obtained from an evaluation searching for the generation of analogies between the proposal and the actual skills that are managed by pre-service training students in Universidad de Magallanes, with the purpose of generating later the necessary actions to balance knowledge, if it is necessary, or promote updates policies and use of knowledge in those teachers who are responsible for the installation of these competences.

Seamless precipitation prediction skill comparison between two global models

The prediction of precipitation by two ocean–atmosphere ensemble systems is compared with observations and each other over a broad range of time‐scales. The systems are the 2015 version of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Predictive Ocean–Atmosphere Model for Australia (POAMA) with a T47 atmosphere, and the 2011 version of the European Centre for Medium‐range Weather Forecasts' (ECMWF) monthly system with a variable atmospheric resolution of T639 to T319. To facilitate the comparison across a seamless range of time‐scales, verification against observations is performed using data averaged over time windows equal in length to the forecast lead time, from 1 day to 4 weeks. In addition to this ‘actual’ skill, potential skill is computed by taking one ensemble member as truth and computing how well the other members forecast that member.Overall, ECMWF shows higher actual skill than POAMA across all time‐scales and in both the Tropics and extratropics, as expected given its greater sophistication. ECMWF is particularly more skilful than POAMA in the Tropics for the shorter leads. Consistent between the two systems, however, is that as lead time and averaging window are simultaneously increased the near‐equatorial skill remains approximately constant, whereas it drops in all other latitude bands. As a result, both systems show much higher skill in the Tropics than extratropics for the 1 week time‐scale and beyond, with that skill concentrated over the equatorial Pacific.Although potential skill in both systems is almost everywhere higher than their actual skill, there remains a strong similarity in the spatial patterns of potential and actual skill for the longer time‐scales. Within‐model comparisons of potential and actual skill show largest differences for POAMA in the Tropics at short lead times, and largest differences for ECMWF in the Southern Hemisphere high latitudes (50–70°S). The implications of these findings are discussed.

Assessing Residents’ Competency at Baseline: How Much Does the Medical School Matter?

Purpose: Medical education is in the midst of a shift towards a more competency-based assessment of learners.1,2 Although there is now some agreement about the competencies needed to enter residency,3 what few data we have about the actual skills of graduating medical students suggest that many are not meeting expectations.4 Although there is some evidence of an association between residency education and practice patterns,5 little is known about the association between undergraduate medical education and performance during residency. The goal of this study was to explore the association between medical school of origin and clinical performance, as assessed by a multistation objective structured clinical examination for incoming residents at the University of Michigan. Method: All first-year residents at the University of Michigan participate in the Postgraduate Orientation Assessment (POA) prior to assuming clinical duties. The POA focuses on competencies that are needed during the first months of residency. Performance data for 1,795 residents were collected between 2002 and 2012. Residents were assessed in four core skills: data gathering, clinical assessment, team skills/procedure competencies, and communication skills. A mixed general linear model was conducted for each core skills score, using “medical school” as a random factor, to estimate the association of a particular school with each score and the amount of variance that school explained in the overall sample. Results: Medical school predicted 1.67% [95% CI 0.36%–2.93%] of the variance of data gathering scores; 4.93% [95% CI 1.84%–6.00%] of the variance of assessment scores; 0.80% [95% CI 0.00%–1.82%] of the variance of teamwork scores; 2.37% [95% CI 0.66%–3.83%] of the variance of communication scores; and 4.19% [95% CI 1.59%–5.35%] of the variance of the overall POA score. Conclusions: These results suggest that resident medical school of origin is associated with clinical competency. The practical significance of these factors needs further evaluation, but the results highlight the potential variability in resident preparation and the need for individualized learning plans and feedback.

Gap Analysis of Employability Skills of Entry Level Business Graduates Based on Job-Fit Theory

This paper analyzes the perceptions of the employer on how job fit is fresh business school graduates in the Indian business scenario. The responses of employers on skills considered in the recruitment of management graduates, matching to their business profile as well as job profiles, were compared with the actual skill set of fresh MBAs inducted from the higher education sector. This study also investigated the level of importance of skills required by a new business graduate from the employer’s expectations of different sectors. A ‘skill gap’ between actual and expected was identified from these findings and its impact will be an eye opener for Business education programs. This is a working paper based on classification of employability skills based on Holland’s Job-fit theory. The study reveals that there is substantial dissatisfaction with the quality of business graduates in the practical level. The survey said 86 percent of employers concurred that MBA-hires doesn’t create much value for their companies in their first few years of their career stage. This confirms the finding that the skill set of fresh managers is inadequate. There will be drastic changes in the Job market and the need of the skill sets may vary again and again. The results of this study make a valuable contribution to the field of career development/guidance, individual students of business studies, employers, and higher education institutions.Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 3, Issue-4: 294-299

Joint Education Fosters Collaboration and Role Clarity Between Practical and Degree Nursing Students.

Tensions and hierarchies among nurses who have different educational preparations can hinder effective communication and collaborative practices. A 2-year longitudinal cohort study involving 214 participants explored the influences of joint education on Canadian Practical Nursing (PN) and Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) students. Joint education helps students dismantle unhelpful power relations, address myths and misconceptions about the other, and develop respect for each other's contributions to patient care. Joint education enhances collaboration between nursing designations by placing a focus on the actual knowledge, skill, and judgment rather than on the hierarchies established through credentialing. Joint education also assists students to see overlap in scope of practice and points of intersection requiring collaboration. This understanding promotes safe patient-focused care. Contextualizing the findings within broader discourses, such as the professions, institutions, regulating organizations, and sociopolitical relations within nursing, exposes future possibilities within nursing education. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(11):623-630.].

Regional skill relatedness: towards a new measure of regional related diversification

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a novel index of regional skill-relatedness and calculates this measure for all Norwegian labour-market regions. Studies of regional related diversification rely on measures of related variety, which build on the industry classification hierarchy. However, the growing literature identifying similarities in knowledge and competences across industries demonstrates that these classifications fail to identify a great deal of actual skill relatedness, and that measures based on empirical measures of industry relatedness are required. The skill relatedness measure builds on labour mobility flows across industries to develop a relatedness matrix for Norwegian industries. It further uses social network analysis to identify the number of other regional industries to which each industry in a particular region is related. Comparing this measure to the related variety index, the analysis shows that the two measures are highly correlated, but that the regional skill relatedness index is able to identify more of the relatedness across industries. In particular, the related variety index tends to underestimate the level of relatedness in many of Norway’s most technologically sophisticated manufacturing regions, whereas these rank highly in the regional skill relatedness index. Consequently, the regional skill relatedness index represents a promising new tool for identifying relatedness in regional systems.