Coherent Program Research Articles

Agriculture in Poland and Ukraine – Potential and Dynamics of Changes in Production

The article attempts to compare the importance of agriculture and the dynamics of its development in Ukraine and Poland. The most important constraints on the development of Ukrainian agriculture were identified, including the unregulated land market, lack of coherent support programs for agriculture and rural areas, poorly developed infrastructure of the agricultural environment and lack of capital for development. It was found that agriculture in Ukraine is characterized by a high growth rate of productivity and production. The observed output gap in relation to agriculture in Poland is about 10 years. The agricultural sector in Ukraine has about 10% share in generating GDP and as much as 40% share in exports. Such high importance can be maintained even in the conditions of economic development, as there are large reserves in the development of agribusiness. The most important development factors include the introduction of a coherent program for the development of the agribusiness sector, including production of goods with high added value and increasing the availability of capital for the development of agriculture. A great opportunity is the development of trade in the conditions of affiliation with the EU.

Profiles of Pre-service Teacher Education: An Investigation into the Nature of Selected Exemplary Programs in Jamaica and Michigan

This qualitative multi-case study investigated thre exemplary pre-service teacher education programs in Jamaica and Michigan in order to provide an account of how they are structured in different contexts of tertiary institutions and, to identify how they ensure that their graduates are prepared to function effectively in today’s schools. Five categories of stakeholders across the three institutions were interviewed regarding their perception and expectations of pre-service teacher education in general as well as in the context of their program. The responses from these persons were described in narrative form, then analyzed and compared based on the similarities and differences that existed among them. The analysis led to the emergence of various themes across the three institutions, and these were used to draw conclusions relative to the structure of pre-service teacher education. The findings revealed eight distinguishing features of exemplary/effective pre-service teacher education programs whether university or college-based. (a) coherent program vision (b) cultural competence (c) collaborative partnership (d) contextualization (e) quality standards (f) well-planned and implemented field experiences (g) continuous assessment (h) experienced committed faculty and (i) a harmonious blend of theory and practice. To be effective, pre-service teacher education programs must prepare prospective teachers to adequately meet the challenges of teaching in today’s classrooms. To effect change, quality teachers are needed, and to produce quality teachers, quality preparation is a necessity.

Diversity in Coherence: Strengths and Opportunities of Three Programs

Although teacher educators may perceive their program and courses to be coherent, the question remains to what extent student teachers also are able to perceive the linkages within their programs. Coherence within teacher education programs is important for teacher candidates to build understanding of teaching. Our study draws upon survey data from 269 teacher candidates, in three different teacher education programs, located in three different countries (Norway, Finland, United States [California]) and compares these candidates’ perceptions of the coherence of their teacher education programs. Candidates from a program that has explicitly been working on constructing a coherent program over a period of 15 years do report significantly more coherence, yet, across the programs, there remains room for improvement regarding the coherence between field placement and campus courses. We conclude with the suggestion that potential improvement of program coherence lies within greater communication and collaboration between the various stakeholders within teacher education.

Enhancing Mental and Physical Health of Women through Engagement and Retention (EMPOWER): a protocol for a program of research

BackgroundThe Enhancing Mental and Physical health of Women through Engagement and Retention or EMPOWER program represents a partnership with the US Department of Veterans Health Administration (VA) Health Service Research and Development investigators and the VA Office of Women’s Health, National Center for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Program Office, Women’s Mental Health Services, and the Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation. EMPOWER includes three projects designed to improve women Veterans’ engagement and retention in evidence-based care for high-priority health conditions, i.e., prediabetes, cardiovascular, and mental health.Methods/DesignThe three proposed projects will be conducted in VA primary care clinics that serve women Veterans including general primary care and women’s health clinics. The first project is a 1-year quality improvement project targeting diabetes prevention. Two multi-site research implementation studies will focus on cardiovascular risk prevention and collaborative care to address women Veterans’ mental health treatment needs respectively. All projects will use the evidence-based Replicating Effective Programs (REP) implementation strategy, enhanced with multi-stakeholder engagement and complexity theory. Mixed methods implementation evaluations will focus on investigating primary implementation outcomes of adoption, acceptability, feasibility, and reach. Program-wide organizational-, provider-, and patient-level measures and tools will be utilized to enhance synergy, productivity, and impact. Both implementation research studies will use a non-randomized stepped wedge design.DiscussionEMPOWER represents a coherent program of women’s health implementation research and quality improvement that utilizes cross-project implementation strategies and evaluation methodology. The EMPOWER Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) will constitute a major milestone for realizing women Veterans’ engagement and empowerment in the VA system. EMPOWER QUERI will be conducted in close partnership with key VA operations partners, such as the VA Office of Women’s Health, to disseminate and spread the programs nationally.Trial registrationThe two implementation research studies described in this protocol have been registered as required:Facilitating Cardiovascular Risk Screening and Risk Reduction in Women Veterans: Trial registration NCT02991534, registered 9 December 2016.Implementation of Tailored Collaborative Care for Women Veterans: Trial registration NCT02950961, registered 21 October 2016.

Preparing teachers for competency-based medical education: Fundamental teaching activities

Introduction: The move to competency-based medical education has created new challenges for medical teachers, including the need to reflect on and further develop their own competencies as teachers. Guidance is needed to ensure comprehensive and coherent programs of faculty development to meet the needs of teachers.Methods: The Working Group on Faculty Development of the College of Family Physicians of Canada developed a new concept, Fundamental Teaching Activities (FTAs), to describe the day-to-day work of teachers. These activities are intended to guide teacher professional development. Using task analysis and iterative reviews with teachers and educational leaders, these FTAs were organized into a framework for teachers to identify the actions involved in various teaching tasks, and to reflect on their teaching performance and next steps in personal development.Results: In addition to use by teachers for personal development, the framework is being employed to guide the development of comprehensive faculty development offerings and curriculum, and to organize the beginnings of a national repository of teaching tools.Conclusions: Designed to support and aid teachers and those charged with faculty development, the Fundamental Teaching Activities Framework holds promise for all teachers in health sciences education.

Evaluating NTU’s OpenCourseWare Project with Google Analytics: User Characteristics, Course Preferences, and Usage Patterns

<p class="3">As freely adoptable digital resources, OpenCourseWare (OCW) have become a prominent form of Open Educational Resources (OER). More than 275 institutions in the worldwide OCW consortium have committed to creating free access open course materials. Despite the resources and efforts to create OCW worldwide, little understanding of its use exists. This paper reports OCW project development at National Taiwan University (NTU) and investigates its use with Google Analytics. Reports include strategic plans to overcome challenges to OCW creation and implementation, the project’s growth and maturation, overall use of OCW, and possible future directions. As a result of its 5-year development and of lessons learned, the NTU-OCW experience features: (1) integrating resources on campus and established operating procedures, (2) setting course selection criteria featuring the strength of NTU and Taiwan, (3) providing coherent program support to enhance faculty participation, and (4) adhering strictly to the Creative Commons license. Data from Google Analytics was reviewed for better understanding of the use, characteristics, course preferences, and behaviors of NTU-OCW users. Results show visitors were primarily lifelong learners (65%) in informal learning settings. Statistics indicate an overall successful use of NTU-OCW for Chinese speaking users, especially in urban areas where information and communication technology is more developed. Potential impacts and future improvements are discussed, including how to promote usage of OCW courses for on and off campus users, adding rating features and indexing for customizing search, and integrating OCW into the learning management system (LMS) as part of OER.</p>

Welsh Politics after the EU Referendum

This paper examines the electoral and ideological contest that has taken place between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru in the five National Assembly elections that have been held between 1999 and 2016. Both parties have found success when they have managed to combine effective leadership with a coherent programme and a strong sense of Welsh identity. However, the Welsh vote to leave the EU in the June 2016 referendum has dealt both parties a poor hand in speaking up for Welsh interests. Can they find a common cause in working together and also with Scotland to take Wales forward in a progressive constitutional direction?

Governing difference in the city: urban imaginaries and the policy practice of migrant incorporation

ABSTRACTGovernance in cities: Urban imagination and integration of immigration policy. Territory, Politics, Governance. This article examines how urban policy actors organize policy practice according to their understanding of the diverse city. In contrast to the national level, cities are sometimes considered to have a pragmatic approach to governing (ethnic) diversity. Yet urban policies also reflect local norms and identities. As such, the city functions as a local discursive condition for and product of understandings of the social world, including processes of differentiation and boundary-drawing. A comparison of policies dealing with migrant incorporation in Amsterdam and The Hague – two highly diverse cities in The Netherlands – shows a discrepancy may exist between overarching discourses and policy practices. While municipal policy discourses suggest a coherent programme, policy practices are rather fragmented. Even though policy actors explain this divergence (also) in terms of pragmatism, they use distinct, city-specific logics to identify what is ‘pragmatic’ and arrive at different outcomes. ‘Urban imaginaries’ or tacitly shared imaginations about the place of migrants in the urban community serve to provide orientation in this regard.

ASEAN during the life of The Pacific Review: a balance sheet on regional governance and community building

ABSTRACTRecent studies of ASEAN have focused on why ASEAN community building has emphasised liberal norms such as human rights, democracy promotion and a commitment to wider participation while maintaining a set of sovereignty-preserving regional principles – the ASEAN Way norms – that have been more suited to securing illiberal agendas and the authoritarian practices of state elites. ASEAN's seeming progressive turn is argued to be instrumentally aimed at buttressing the legitimacy of the grouping as a credible regional institution in international society in which these norms are widely accepted though not uncontested. With recent developments suggesting further consolidation of, or a return to, authoritarian tendencies across the region, state-based modes of governance may become more limited in terms of what ASEAN member states are prepared to endorse. It is, therefore, time for scholars to expand analysis to explore how transnational issues and problems may be functionally governed outside of formal regional institutions involving non-state actors in key roles. While the turn to privately generated standards, rules and practices in global governance is well-recognised and researched, the disparate studies on private governance in South-East Asia are rarely cumulated into a more coherent research programme that addresses the effectiveness of private governance as well as its normative implications. These questions point to a promising agenda for research on regional and other transnational modes of governance in South-East Asia.

Rfx2 Stabilizes Foxj1 Binding at Chromatin Loops to Enable Multiciliated Cell Gene Expression.

Cooperative transcription factor binding at cis-regulatory sites in the genome drives robust eukaryotic gene expression, and many such sites must be coordinated to produce coherent transcriptional programs. The transcriptional program leading to motile cilia formation requires members of the DNA-binding forkhead (Fox) and Rfx transcription factor families and these factors co-localize to cilia gene promoters, but it is not clear how many cilia genes are regulated by these two factors, whether these factors act directly or indirectly, or how these factors act with specificity in the context of a 3-dimensional genome. Here, we use genome-wide approaches to show that cilia genes reside at the boundaries of topological domains and that these areas have low enhancer density. We show that the transcription factors Foxj1 and Rfx2 binding occurs in the promoters of more cilia genes than other known cilia transcription factors and that while Rfx2 binds directly to promoters and enhancers equally, Foxj1 prefers direct binding to enhancers and is stabilized at promoters by Rfx2. Finally, we show that Rfx2 and Foxj1 lie at the anchor endpoints of chromatin loops, suggesting that target genes are activated when Foxj1 bound at distal sites is recruited via a loop created by Rfx2 binding at both sites. We speculate that the primary function of Rfx2 is to stabilize distal enhancers with proximal promoters by operating as a scaffolding factor, bringing key regulatory domains bound by Foxj1 into close physical proximity and enabling coordinated cilia gene expression.

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING BY OIL AND GAS MULTINATIONALS FROM RUSSIA AND ROMANIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The objective of the paper consists in determining the level of awareness towards sustainability and ecological issues for Russian and Romanian oil and gas multinational companies (MNCs). Thus, we employed a qualitative approach on the issue, both by investigating the information disclosed in sustainability and/or CSR reports from a sample of Russian and Romanian corporations and by keeping trace of the adequacy of their reporting practice with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. Our results substantiate that large South-Eastern corporations form resource-based sectors have initiated, over the last few years, coherent programs in terms of environmental reporting, which were designed to catch up with their western rivals.

COHERENT Experiment: current status

The COHERENT Collaboration is realizing a long term neutrino physics research program. The main goals of the program are to detect and study elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS). This process is predicted by Standard Model but it has never been observed experimentally because of the very low energy of the recoil nucleus. COHERENT is using different detector technologies: CsI[Na] and NaI scintillator crystals, a single-phase liquid Ar and a Ge detectors. The placement of all the detector setups is in the basement of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The current status of the COHERENT experimental program is presented.

Mineral fertilizers: in addition to the private control government regulation is required

The production of mineral fertilizers inRussiain the nineties has decreased two times due to the domestic market collapse and equals now the 25 years ago level. The expected growth of input of fertilizers production capacities in the coming years in the world and inRussiawill outstrip the demand leading thus to a serious competition on international markets. These circumstances clearly reveal the weaknesses of domestic producers. To be successful, manufacturers need to raise the production to a qualitatively new level, providing in the future the competitive advantages of the industry. Despite substantial resources mineral fertilizers enterprises are influenced by negative trends. For phosphate fertilizers production the limiting factor is raw material supply. There exist complicated relations between supplier and consumer of Apatite concentrate. This circumstance affected the operation of phosphate fertilizers enterprises inRussiaproducing less than 75 % of the 1990 year level. The article analyzes the reasons hindering the production growth, rational use of investment in the development of the industry and the possibility of export increase. The main negative reasons are: private ownership of mining raw materials enterprises operating as monopolies. The interests of the owners are at odds with the interests of the mineral fertilizers producers, thus not allowing to increase production. The lack of coherent long-term state programs of basic economy sectors development does not allow to plan modernization of enterprises operating on the domestic market. Irrational use of investment resources prevents modernization of outdated production capacity.

Formal characterization of an efficient driving evaluation process for companies of the transport sector

Public institutions and private companies all around the world agree that road transport is one of the main sectors responsible for global warming. With this in mind, all of them have designed actions to increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. A favorite for the companies is eco-driving because it can improve the fleet performance without a great investment. However, although these programs have achieved promising results in the majority of the experiences, the figures are not so encouraging in the long term. In many cases this decrease is produced by fuzzy reward programs or the total lack of them. Nevertheless, any coherent reward program, in order to be effective, must be associated with a complete and fair evaluation process which takes into account all the different aspects and complexities related with driving. In this paper, we propose a formal characterization of an efficient driving evaluation process which starts with a review of many different driving recommendation systems. These recommendations are used as seeds to build a set of formal competences that any eco driver must have, as well as the learning outcomes associated with each competence. A set of patterns of driving behaviors are defined, that allow confirming any of the learning outcomes. The definition also comprises a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each learning outcome. These KPIs allow measuring the progress associated with each competence. Finally, we also propose some relevant differences that must be taken into account for the goals associated with each KPI, depending on the domain of application: type and road geometry, vehicle type (automatic or manual, passengers, cargo or not, public or private), amount of traffic, weather. Some examples of this driver characterization have been included to demonstrate the process.

European Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Networks: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

By 2020, European Union Member States should achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) for eleven environmental quality descriptors for their marine waters to fulfill the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). By the end of 2015, in coordination with the Regional Seas Conventions, each EU Member States was required to develop a marine strategy for their waters, together with other countries within the same marine region or sub-region. Coherent monitoring programs, submitted in 2014, form a key component of this strategy, which then aimed to lead to a Program of Measures (submitted in 2015). The European DEVOTES FP7 project has produced and interrogated a catalogue of EU marine monitoring related to MSFD descriptors 1 (biological diversity), 2 (non-indigenous species), 4 (food webs) and 6 (seafloor integrity). Here we detail the monitoring activity at the regional and sub-regional level for these descriptors, as well as for 11 biodiversity components, 22 habitats and the 37 anthropogenic pressures addressed. The metadata collated for existing European monitoring networks were subject to a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. This interrogation has indicated case studies to address the following questions: a) what are the types of monitoring currently in place?; b) who does what and how?; c) is the monitoring fit-for-purpose for addressing the MSFD requirements?, and d) what are the impediments to better monitoring (e.g. costs, shared responsibilities between countries, overlaps, co-ordination)? We recommend the future means, to overcome the identified impediments and develop more robust monitoring strategies and as such the results are especially relevant to implementing coordinated monitoring networks throughout Europe, for marine policy makers, government agencies and regulatory bodies. It is emphasized that while many of the recommendations given here require better, more extensive and perhaps more costly monitoring, this is required to avoid any legal challenges to the assessments or to bodies and industries accused of causing a deterioration in marine quality. More importantly the monitoring is required to demonstrate the efficacy of management measures employed. Furthermore, given the similarity in marine management approaches in other developed systems, we consider that the recommendations are also of relevance to other regimes worldwide.

Social Justice Training in School Psychology: Applying Principles of Organizational Consultation to Facilitate Change in Graduate Programs

ABSTRACTScholars and professional organizations have called for an increased emphasis on social justice training in applied psychology graduate programs, including school psychology programs (SPPs). During the past decade, emerging research has identified some features of high-quality social justice education, including a clear program mission statement and relevant field-based experiences. However, relatively little literature has described how faculty can pursue comprehensive change in their graduate programs to move training toward a social justice orientation. The purpose of this article is to describe how principles of organizational consultation can be applied to cultivate a program-wide emphasis on social justice issues in school psychology training. In particular, this article reviews relevant literature on social justice education and describes an adapted 5-stage model of organizational consultation for coordinating cohesive program change. Specific recommendations for implementing high-quality social justice training are provided, and directions for future research are discussed.

‘Building Us Up’: Supporting Black Male College Students in a Black Male Initiative Program

Efforts to enhance the academic performances and educational experiences of Black males in college has exploded in the past 15 years, including institutional, state, system-level, and national programs, policies, and calls to action. Key among these efforts is establishing Black Male Initiative (BMI) programs, which primarily are structured as social cohesion programs and intended to increase students’ retention and graduation rates. Using qualitative interview data from a convenience sample of 40 Black male students at two different institutions, this project explores their engagement and experiences in a BMI program. First, I analyze students’ narratives regarding their participation and meaning-making of BMIs. I find that BMIs play a critical role in supporting students through increased access to social and cultural (sociocultural) capital while simultaneously honoring the cultural wealth students bring to campus. Second, I examine how engagement in the BMI community helped enhance students’ academic experiences and sense of self.

Валютна політика України: чверть сторіччя невизначеності

The article deals with the basic elements of the exchange policy during Ukraine's independence – including monetary sovereignty, the degree of currency convertibility, the exchange rate regime, the exchange control mechanism and cooperation with the international monetary fund. The author provides a detailed analysis of the problem of selecting the appropriate direction of the exchange policy and points to the continuing uncertainty about this choice, and hence the lack of efficiency of the exchange policy in general. Ukrainian practice makes you pay attention to such a characteristic of the exchange policy as its focus on the own currency, i.e. the introduction of legal rules governing the relationship arising through use of the national currency in the currency operations (foreign exchange transactions between residents and within non-residents). Given this, the exchange policy should be formed on the basis of the principles adopted in other areas of the economic policy in order to ensure the integrity of a strategic approach to achieve the goals of a comprehensive economic policy (including exchange relations). The exchange policy should provide coordination and reasonable relationship of different components of the economic policy, in both internal and external areas, including the distinct interaction between national and international institutions of the monetary regulation. Only the presence and the use of the above analytical framework of monetary policy – in the form of professionally prepared and politically coherent laws, concepts, strategies and action programs in various fields of economy and policies – could provide certainty, consistency and effectiveness of the state monetary policy. Unfortunately, Ukraine was forced to implement its exchange policy in the absence of almost all previous conditions, which caused the uncertainty of the state monetary policy as regards its key elements, such as a general orientation (goal), the degree of currency convertibility, the exchange rate regime, foreign exchange market and currency control institutions. In addition, the most negative way on the foreign policy reflected the general uncertainty about the economic policy and overall strategy for economic development. Such uncertainty caused a chain reaction of uncertainty as to some important elements of the exchange policy.

Farmers’ knowledge and attitudes on pesticide usage in vegetable cultivation in Sri Lanka

A farmer survey was conducted in four major vegetable growing districts; Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya to identify the sensitivity of vegetable growers on the impacts of synthetic pesticides used in vegetable culti-vation and the problems faced by them in maintaining pest- and disease- free crops for maximum economic bene-fits. The key factors involved in farmers’ decision making in selecting pesticides were the product quality, farmer experience, availability and reputation than the price, product novelty and influence of the dealer and the peers. More farmers indicated that some Organophosphates, Carbamates, Pyrethroids and fungicides are more effective in controlling insect pests and diseases. A majority of farmers reported that the new-hybrids which are sensitive to insect pests and diseases as a drawback in minimizing agrochemical usage. The survey revealed that the prod-uct quality, farmers’ experience, availability of the product, company reputation, income, and price are influ-enced for decision making. Hence suggested cohesive research and development programs to develop non-pesticide dependant crop management practices; efficient pesticide application techniques that help minimize to pesticide requirement; establishment of surveillance system and implementing policies to regular monitoring of pesticide residues in vegetables. We emphasize that excessive use of pesticides is an economical and behavioural “lock in’ aspect that require multi-dimensional approach to find a solution to this issue.

Patent information visualization: the use of social media for its selective dissemination and to leverage innovation

This work describes the development and implementation of a theoretical support model for the creation of an information system that will allow the dissemination and visualization of scientific and technical information contained in patent documents. This is made possible using the web sites of industrial property official entities, with the support of information resources available through libraries and information services in universities, and their available information resources, which will be crucial for the success of university research centres (URC) in Science, Technology and Medicine (STM). In order to achieve a coherent program of dissemination and enable access to patent information by the URC, social media network tools (such as RSS, Blogs, Wikis, Newsletters) will be used to achieve the proposed objectives, as well as control effectively, in order to constantly improve the system implemented. The goal of this technology watch and competitive intelligence is to stimulate creativity, leading to new product/process development and the consequent improvement of innovation rates in academic research institutions with cost efficiency. Some examples of the use and application of this information resource in different types of industry and a model created for its dissemination will be presented.