Regular Peer Review Research Articles

Experience with "Select Crowd Review" in Peer Review for The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon: 1-Year Experience.

To evaluate the experience with a new peer review method, "Select Crowd Review" (SCR): anonymized PDFs of manuscripts are accessible to a reviewer crowd via an online platform. It has access for 10 days to enter anonymized comments directly into the manuscript. A SCR-Editor summarizes the annotations, giving a recommendation. Both reviewed PDF and summary are sent back to authors. Upon submission, authors are given a choice to accept or decline SCR. All manuscript submissions since introduction in July 2021 until July 2022 were analyzed regarding acceptance and quality. Manuscripts were sent to a crowd of 45 reviewers and regular double-blinded peer review at the same time. Efficiency and performance of the crowd's reviews were compared with those of regular review. For thoracic manuscripts, a crowd was not yet available. SCR was accepted by the authors for 73/179 manuscripts (40.8%). After desk rejections, 51 cardiac manuscripts entered SCR. For five manuscripts, the crowd did not respond. In all remaining papers, the crowd's recommendation concurred with that of the normal reviewers. Regular peer review took up to 6 weeks. Twelve manuscripts underwent repeated SCR after revision. A median of 2 (0-9) crowd members sent in reviews. In revisions, average response was one reviewer responding. SCR encountered good acceptance by authors. As the first experience showed concordant recommendations compared with traditional review, we have extended SCR to thoracic manuscripts for more experience. SCR may become the sole review method for eligible manuscripts. Efficiency should be increased, especially for re-review of revisions.

Fórum: Política externa, emoções e segurança ontológica

Abstract This forum, as a part of the special issue on New Directions for Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), provides a diversity of answers to the question of how affects and emotions, and the search for ontological security, relate to foreign policy. By foregrounding the various ways to conceive the relationship between foreign policy, ontological security, collective identities, states’ autobiographical narratives, emotions and affective investments, the contributors to this forum examine and chart fruitful directions in FPA. Resende explores the analytical potentials of combining the theory of Ontological Security, Foreign Policy Analysis and Memory Studies to investigate how states invest in practices of ontological security by creating, remaking and defending their national narratives through historical memory. Solomon recollects how the September 11th attacks and the ensuing War on Terror contributed to his search for approaches which took affects and emotions seriously in IR, and which could help make sense of why some discourses, including foreign policy discourses, resonate with and are accepted by the audience in certain contexts. Finally, Sandrin provides an account of her encounters with the literature on the role of emotions in foreign policy and conveys how these texts helped her make sense of some puzzling aspects of Turkish foreign policy. Jimmy Casas Klausen served as lead editor of this forum. The manuscript passed through the regular double-blind peer review process to insure anonymity.

A planetary health-organ system map to integrate climate change and health content into medical curricula.

A planetary health-organ system map to integrate climate change and health content into medical curricula.

A Comparative Survey Study of In-Person Versus Virtual Trauma Peer Review Meetings.

The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma mandates regular peer review meetings for verified trauma centers. The COVID-19 pandemic forced in-person meetings to transition to an online platform. The objective of this study was to assess the opinions of participants regarding the benefits and negative aspects of the virtual peer review process. We hypothesize that physicians and nurses would prefer a virtual meeting format. An anonymous online survey of members of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and the Society of Trauma Nurses was distributed in May and June of 2021. Demographic data and Likert scale-based responses were collected using the Research Electronic Data Capture platform. Invitations were sent to 1,726 physicians and 2,912 nurses. In total, 137 (8%) physicians and 141 (5%) nurses completed the survey. Both groups felt that either platform was effective in addressing opportunities for improvement in care. Physicians disagreed with the statement that anonymous online voting improved their ability to more accurately address opportunities for improvement. In total, 108 (79%) physicians and 100 (71%) nurses preferred a hybrid meeting. Only 18 (13%) physicians and 23 (16%) nurses wanted virtual meetings, whereas only 29 (21%) physicians and 36 (26%) nurses wanted in-person meetings going forward. Virtual and in-person trauma peer review meetings are equally effective in terms of case discussion and identifying opportunities for improvement in care. Given that most people preferred a hybrid meeting, future studies evaluating how best to incorporate and implement this format are needed.

The impact of radiation therapist-led structured peer review meetings on compliance to Radiation Oncology Practice Standards.

Regular tumour-specific peer review meetings (TPRMs) were established by our group during 2016. A dedicated Quality Assurance Radiation Therapist (QART) was employed in 2018 to co-ordinate the meetings and for each patient, complete the Peer Review Audit Tool (PRAT) of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR). The aim of the current quality assurance study was to investigate the impact of the TPRMs and appointment of the QART on compliance to relevant RANZCR Radiation Oncology Practice Standards (ROPS). Tumour-specific peer review meetings for eight tumour sites were assessed across our group's three hospitals from January 2017 to December 2019. Data from meetings were collected using the PRAT or from paper-based minutes and assessed against four ROPS (ROPS 3, 4, 8 and 9). Compliance with each of the four standards was measured by presence of the required documentation and presentation at TPRM, as recorded by the PRAT. There was an increase in the overall number of peer review cases audited from 173 in the 2017 calendar year to 469 in 2018 and 619 in 2019, representing 7%, 18% and 22% of all treatment courses started during these years, respectively. Staging was the most incompletely documented item across all years for audited patients. The request for radiation treatment plan modifications increased year-on-year: modifications were requested for 5% of plans in 2017 (8/172), 18% in 2018 (81/452) and 19% (119/619) in 2019. This study has shown that an increase in the number of cases for peer-review audit corresponded to the QART-facilitated TPRMs. Application of the PRAT has identified radiation treatment plan modifications that would otherwise go undetected and without opportunity to improve the quality of patients' treatment or avoid harm.

Analisis Perilaku Konsumen Dalam Keputusan Pembelian Produk Celebrity Endorser

The use of celebrity as an endorser influences the consumption psychology of consumer. The purpose of this research was to analyze the factors considered by the consumers, the steps of purchase decision made by the consumers and consumer behavior in making decision after purchasing of Semarang Roru Cake. The data collection techniques used were observation and interview. The validity of the data using regular observation, triangulation, peer review and detailed description. Data reduction, presentation, and conclusion were the data analysis techniques. The result showed that consumer behavior in making purchase decision on Celebrity Endorser Products (A Case Study: The consumer of Roru Cake Outlet in Semarang)”. Consisted of seven factors that influenced the consumers before buying the cake, they were Product Factor, Price Factor, Promotion Factor, Personal Factor, Social Factor, Cultural Factor and Environmental and Situation Factor. There were several stages of purchase decision made by Semarang Roru Cake consumers, they included the stages of need recognition, information searching, alternative evaluation, purchasing decision and post-purchase behavior. In purchase behavior, every consumer was different in deciding what to buy, complex buying behavior, purchasing behavior that reduced the inconvenience, purchasing behavior due to purchasing habit and behavior which seeked for the variations.

Implementation of a Novel Cloud-based Platform for Facilitating Remote Radiotherapy Peer Review and Training in Resource-Limited Settings: Results of Feasibility Assessments in 4 Radiotherapy Centers in Botswana, Ghana and Tanzania

A major challenge for radiotherapy (RT) centers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is to ensure that they deliver consistently high-quality treatment. The RT multi-disciplinary team requires adequate training in RT planning and access to ongoing expert input and peer review to achieve this. Cloud-based technology may function as a tool for facilitating remote peer review and training for RT centers in LMICs. We undertook a feasibility study of a cloud-based peer review and training software program in 4 RT centers in sub-Saharan Africa, to assess center-specific requirements for such a platform, and the existing technological infrastructure to support this. We carried out 5 site visits at 4 RT centers in Ghana, Tanzania and Botswana over 18 months. We reviewed existing RT treatment facilities, assessed the informatics infrastructure and interviewed RT staff to ascertain center-specific needs and the potential for incorporating cloud technology into their existing workflow. We attempted installation of the software in each center and tested its functionality to perform a full external peer review ‘feedback loop’. The feasibility study revealed a range of capabilities between the centers, and highlighted a lack of formal peer review practice amongst clinicians delivering 3D conformal RT. Installation of cloud software was achieved in 3 sites, however, it only demonstrated full functionality in 1 center. At this center, a full feedback loop with external peer review of RT volumes was achieved. The main barriers to implementation of cloud-based peer review were low internet bandwidth with poor or variable connection speeds, and insufficient IT facilities and expertise. Lack of dedicated time for formal peer review due to high clinical workloads compounded these issues. Where it is technically feasible, cloud software may offer great potential for the implementation of regular peer review and training in radiotherapy planning in LMICs. However, the extra work burden it puts upon staff and need for further training to use the software, along with sub-optimal internet capabilities, means that further work is required to embed routine peer review into practice, and to optimize the appropriate platform for achieving this.Tabled 1Abstract 2881; TableKomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, GhanaSweden Ghana Medical Centre, Accra, GhanaOcean Road Cancer Institute, Dar Es Salaam, TanzaniaGaborone Private Hospital, Gaborone, BotswanaIs the internet capability sufficient for download of software?NoYesYesYesCan user accounts be created?NoYesYesYesCan DICOM files be exported from treatment planning system?NoYesNoYesCan DICOM data be imported to cloud platform?N/AYesNoNoAre imported images adequately rendered?N/AYesN/ANoIs upload of data to cloud supported?NoYesNoNoIs uploaded data anonymized?NoYesN/AN/AIs cloud platform functioning sufficient to allow completion of a ‘feedback loop’?NoYesNoNo Open table in a new tab

How often do leading biomedical journals use statistical experts to evaluate statistical methods? The results of a survey.

Scientific claims in biomedical research are typically derived from statistical analyses. However, misuse or misunderstanding of statistical procedures and results permeate the biomedical literature, affecting the validity of those claims. One approach journals have taken to address this issue is to enlist expert statistical reviewers. How many journals do this, how statistical review is incorporated, and how its value is perceived by editors is of interest. Here we report an expanded version of a survey conducted more than 20 years ago by Goodman and colleagues (1998) with the intention of characterizing contemporary statistical review policies at leading biomedical journals. We received eligible responses from 107 of 364 (28%) journals surveyed, across 57 fields, mostly from editors in chief. 34% (36/107) rarely or never use specialized statistical review, 34% (36/107) used it for 10-50% of their articles and 23% used it for all articles. These numbers have changed little since 1998 in spite of dramatically increased concern about research validity. The vast majority of editors regarded statistical review as having substantial incremental value beyond regular peer review and expressed comparatively little concern about the potential increase in reviewing time, cost, and difficulty identifying suitable statistical reviewers. Improved statistical education of researchers and different ways of employing statistical expertise are needed. Several proposals are discussed.

Should Psychology Journals Adopt Specialized Statistical Review?

Readers of peer-reviewed research may assume that the reported statistical analyses supporting scientific claims have been closely scrutinized and surpass a high-quality threshold. However, widespread misunderstanding and misuse of statistical concepts and methods suggests that suboptimal or erroneous statistical practice is routinely overlooked during peer review in psychology. Here, we explore whether psychology journals could ameliorate some of the field’s statistical ailments by adopting specialized statistical review: a focused technical assessment, performed by statistical experts, that addresses the analysis and presentation of quantitative information and supplements regular peer review. We discuss evidence from a recent survey of journal editors suggesting that specialized statistical review may be unusual in psychology journals and is regarded by many editors as unnecessary. We contrast these views with those in the biomedical domain, where statistical review has been considered a partial preventive measure against the improper use of statistics since the late 1970s. We suggest that the current “credibility revolution” presents an opportune occasion for psychology journals to consider adopting specialized statistical review.

The PRESTO Project relay: Open, Asynchronous Learning in Virtual Peer Groups

Academic education entails that students engage in open-ended assignments. Global education entails that students interact in projects with peers world-wide. The logistic challenge of offering academic project work to a large, heterogeneous student body, while keeping instructor workload manageable, is daunting. Project relays on the PRESTO software platform meet this challenge. In a project relay, students work in a virtual peer group on assignments that are organized in successive steps, where each step is peer reviewed. Unlike a regular peer review, the reviewing students revise the work they have reviewed. They then add the next step to it, and pass the improved-and-extended work on to another student. The PRESTO software fully automates the relay workflow, facilitates defining, monitoring, and grading projects, and has been adapted for use in LTI-compliant MOOCs. Since 2013, over 20 project relays have run in several courses at Delft University of Technology. Evaluations show that a project relay realizes the intended learning outcomes, but can at times be stressful for students. This prompts ideas for further pedagogical and technical improve¬ments.

“Understanding, Predicting and Preventing Violence”

Free Access“Understanding, Predicting and Preventing Violence”A Special Issue of European PsychologistCarlo Garofalo and Rannveig SigurvinsdóttirCarlo Garofalo Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands Search for more papers by this author and Rannveig Sigurvinsdóttir Reykjavík University, Reykjavík, Iceland Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:August 31, 2018https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000333PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInReddit SectionsMoreViolence is a major public health threat that has long attracted the interest of psychological research and practice. This special issue of European Psychologist seeks to take stock of current knowledge and set the agenda for future research in this area. This is particularly timely in a phase in which psychology as a discipline is facing the challenge of critically (re-)examining the robustness of findings that have the potential for informing policy making, and thus impact on a societal level.To achieve this goal, this special issue aims to curate a collection of cutting-edge review and integrative articles to synthesize the state-of-the-art and shape the directions of future research, with the ultimate intent of increasing our ability to understand, prevent, and reduce violence and its impact on victims, survivors, perpetrators, and society at large.In order to provide a comprehensive synthesis, articles in the special issue will be selected to ensure a diversity of contributions, spanning across different forms of violence, various theoretical frameworks, and diverse populations and cultures.TopicsSample topics may include (but are not limited to): Intimate partner violence; sexual harassment and sexual violence (or gender-based violence more generally); environmental influences on violent behavior (e.g., parenting, peer relationships); personality traits and personality disorders related to violence (or more generally, psychopathology); development of aggression and violent behavior and their manifestation in different age groups; mass violence/terrorism; resilience after traumatic victimization; neurocognitive, biological, and psychophysiological perspectives on violence; violence in ethnic minorities; cross-cultural perspectives on violence and aggression; online violence; economic violence; suicide and self-harm; prevention and rehabilitation programs.DeadlinesThe call for papers follows a two-step procedure with the following deadlines:–September 16, 2018: deadline for extended abstract submissions.–November 16, 2018: notification of decision on abstract submissions.–March 16, 2019: deadline submission of full manuscripts.All manuscripts will undergo regular peer-review, with a target publication date in September/October 2019.Manuscript Preparation and SubmissionManuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the journal’s author guidelines available on the journal’s website athttps://www.hogrefe.com/j/epExtended AbstractsExtended abstracts should be sent by email toepviolence@gmail.comThey should consist of approximately 300 words (maximum 500 words) and should address the following:•What is the main topic of interest and why it is important/timely?•What type of contribution will it represent (e.g., theoretical/conceptual, systematic review, meta-analysis, etc.)?•What are the key messages that the article will convey?•Does the paper include an emphasis on prevention or rehabilitation programs (for those articles that are not exclusively focused on them)?Full SubmissionsFull submissions should be submitted exclusively via the online submission system:https://www.editorialmanager.com/epManuscripts should have a maximum of 6,000 words (including references, tables, and references). If the author(s) feel that they need more space, they should communicate this upon submission of the extended abstract, indicating what would ideally be the desired length for their article. The manuscript should follow the standard formatting of papers published in the European Psychologist, and include a conclusion/summary section that spells out the key take-home messages of the article. For articles that do not focus exclusively on prevention and rehabilitation programs for violence, a (sub-)section addressing these issues would be encouraged and appreciated. Likewise, while not all contributions should be necessarily authored by European-based scholars, each manuscript should ideally have some kind of European perspective, or highlight its relevance for the European context.European Psychologist is the official journal of EFPA (European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations), with over 200,000 members, and article summaries go out to members in regular newsletters. The journal has now an impact factor of 3.419 (2016) and showcases cutting edge developments in psychology from across Europe. European Psychologist now publishes solely review and integrative articles. Therefore, articles submitted to the special issue should take a broad, synthesizing view, which would illuminate the topic generally for our readers and give shape to the direction of further research.Contact DetailsQuestions regarding the special issue should be directed toCarlo Garofalo, c.garofalo@uvt.nl, or Rannveig Sigurvinsdóttir, rannveigssig@gmail.com.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 23Issue 3July 2018ISSN: 1016-9040eISSN: 1878-531X InformationEuropean Psychologist (2018), 23, pp. 251-252 https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000333.© 2018Hogrefe PublishingPDF download

Peer Review – the future is here

Several divergent standpoints are hosted under the umbrella of Peer Review. Authors, who wish to see the results of scrupulous work published, in the anticipation of career promotion or secure funding. Editors, who are under pressure to identify sound and novel research. Reviewers, who try to fit a thoughtful and time-consuming process within busy schedules, often receiving no credit for it. And Publishers competing in a transforming landscape of fast and abundant science publishing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Special Issue on the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes

At 9:26 pm on April 14, 2016, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck directly beneath Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, producing a seismic intensity level (JMA) of 7 in Mashiki Town. Although the earthquake damage forecasting system in operation at the time predicted that this earthquake would cause no damage, it resulted in extensive human casualties and property damage centered in Mashiki Town. Past midnight on April 16, 28 hours after the first shock, the second and main shock hit, which recorded magnitude 7.3 and was the strongest recorded urban earthquake in Japan since 1995. The hypocenter extended from Kumamoto prefecture to Oita prefecture, cutting across the island of Kyushu. Mount Aso also saw increased volcanic activities which led to several landslides. This resulted in the collapse of the Great Aso Bridge, an important transportation point, causing the loss of human lives as well as obstruction of traffic for an extended period. Much confusion arose in the process of implementing measures in response to the earthquakes, which produced damage in urban areas as well as hilly and mountainous regions, raising many issues and prompting several new approaches. Researchers in many fields have conducted various activities at the disaster sites in the one-year period following the earthquakes, and produced significant findings in many areas. In order to make these results available to the wider global community, JDR is releasing a special issue on the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes with excellent papers and reports to mark their one-year anniversary. While the submitted papers to this special issue went through our regular peer review process, no publication charge was imposed so as to encourage as many submissions as possible. It is our hope that this special issue will contribute to throwing light on the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes in its entirety.

WITHDRAWN: Are Diagnostic Radiographers Image Acquisition Experts Within the General Radiographic Environment?

This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. Shortly after appearing In Press, this article was flagged as having an unacceptable amount of duplicate text from a recently published article in another journal. In consultation with the author, publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of both journals, the article has been removed from the production queue and is being withdrawn from In Press. The author expressed regret at misunderstanding this aspect of the publication process, and plans to resubmit after removing all instances of text recycling; ensuring that the hypotheses between the two papers are separate (i.e., papers not split by outcomes); and referencing the previously published paper. Any resulting resubmission will undergo the journal's regular double-blind peer review process. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.

Exploration of Participation in Student Software Engineering Teams

Employers require software engineers to work in teams when developing software systems. It is therefore important for graduates to have experienced teamwork before they enter the job market. We describe an experiential learning exercise that we designed to teach the software engineering process in conjunction with teamwork skills. The underlying teaching strategy applied in the exercise maximises risks in order to provide maximal experiential learning opportunities. The students are expected to work in fairly large, yet short-lived, instructor-assigned teams to complete software engineering tasks. After undergoing the exercise our students form self-selected teams for their capstone projects. In this article, we determine and report on the influence the teaching exercise had on the formation of teams for the capstone project. By analysing data provided by the students through regular peer reviews we gain insight into the team dynamics as well as to what extent the members contributed to the team effort. We develop and present a graphical model of a capstone project team which highlights participation of individuals during the teaching exercise. The participatory history of the members is visualised using segmented concentric rings. We consider how this visualisation can aid the identification of capstone project teams that are at risk. In our experience the composition of the team and the behaviour of other members in the team may have a marked impact on the behaviour of each individual in the team. We established a team classification in order to model information about teams. We use a statistical clustering method to classify teams. For this we use team profiles that are based on the participatory levels of its members. The team types that emerge from the clustering are used to derive migration models. When we consider migration, we build spring models to visualise the teams through which individuals migrate. We colour code the teams to characterise them according to the team types that were identified during the cluster classification of the teams. Owing to the complexity of the resulting model, only migrations for capstone team members who have worked together during the exercise or for solitary capstone team members are modelled. These models support the identification of areas of interest that warrant further investigation. To conclude, we present our observations from the analysis of team compositions, team types, and team migrations and provide directions for future work and collaborations.

Does the removal of results from a submitted paper reduce publication bias?

A recent paper by Findley et al. (2016) in Comparative Political Studies suggests that the removal of results from a paper may decrease publication bias. However, in the biomedical sciences, a paper without results is not interpretable; therefore, such a solution is not viable for addressing the reproducibility crisis. Instead, Findley et al.’s proposal should form a pre-submission step that enables colleagues and peers to evaluate a paper's experimental design and protocol prior to submission to a journal for regular peer review. Introducing a new, data-free model for peer review would only dilute the efficacy of current models and weaken efforts to improve existing publication practices.

The fate of triaged and rejected manuscripts.

In 2011, Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation (NDT) established a more restrictive selection process for manuscripts submitted to the journal, reducing the acceptance rate from 25% (2008-2009) to currently about 12-15%. To achieve this goal, we decided to score the priority of manuscripts submitted to NDT and to reject more papers at triage than in the past. This new scoring system allows a rapid decision for the authors without external review. However, the risk of such a restrictive policy may be that the journal might fail to capture important studies that are eventually published in higher-ranked journals. To look into this problem, we analysed random samples of papers (∼10%) rejected by NDT in 2012. Of the papers rejected at triage and those rejected after regular peer review, 59 and 61%, respectively, were accepted in other journals. A detailed analysis of these papers showed that only 4 out of 104 and 7 out of 93 of the triaged and rejected papers, respectively, were published in journals with an impact factor higher than that of NDT. Furthermore, for all these papers, independent assessors confirmed the evaluation made by the original reviewers. The number of citations of these papers was similar to that typically obtained by publications in the corresponding journals. Even though the analyses seem reassuring, previous observations made by leading journals warn that the risk of 'big misses', resulting from selective editorial policies, remains a real possibility. We will therefore continue to maintain a high degree of alertness and will periodically track the history of manuscripts rejected by NDT, particularly papers that are rejected at triage by our journal.

G52(P) Evaluating a safeguarding peer review and reflective supervision intervention: exploring paediatricians’ participation and learning

Aims To establish regular peer review and reflective supervision for paediatricians at both sites of an NHS Trust for a six month period and evaluate participation and learning. Methods An action research methodology was chosen. Morrison’s 4 × 4 × 4 reflective supervision model was selected because of its focus of improving safeguarding outcomes for children. New documentary output was developed for peer review sessions. To support participation, peer review and supervision sessions were scheduled during monthly clinical governance half-days. Attendance at clinical governance sessions is expected for all available paediatricians. Participation in the evaluation of learning was optional. There are 21 paediatricians permanently employed by the Trust. Their participation, any resultant learning and impact was to be explored through examination of documentary outputs from the sessions including attendance registers and from semi-structured interviews. This service evaluation project was registered with the NHS organisation. The evaluation of learning has approval from a university ethics committee. Results Experienced supervisors were secured and a steering group established. Six sessions were planned at each site beginning with supervisee training for reflective supervision. Then there was to be alternating sessions of reflective supervision or peer review at each site. For the site with 13 paediatricians, six (6/13, 46.2%) were present for training. Of the subsequent five sessions, only one session has taken place. There were four attendees (4/13, 30.8%) at the reflective supervision session, only two of whom had attended the training. Four of the sessions did not take place. For the site with 8 paediatricians, three (3/8, 37.5%) attended training and none of the five planned sessions happened. Of the nine missed sessions, analysis indicates that unavailability of the Named Doctors for Child Protection accounted for four missed sessions, unavailability of other paediatricians for an additional four and an administrative error for one. The details of the barriers to participation will be presented. Conclusions Scheduling peer review and reflective supervision during clinical governance half-days did not secure paediatricians’ participation. There has been insufficient participation to evaluate learning or impact on outcomes for children. Future options to support participation will be discussed.

Preface: Workshop in fluid mechanics and population dynamics

The Workshop in Fluid Mechanics and Population Dynamics: Models, Existence Problems, Stability and Numerical Methods took place in Hadath (Lebanon), at the Laboratory of mathematics in the Doctoral School of Science and Technology of the Lebanese University, during the week September 10 - September 14, 2012 The workshop was held with the support of the Ecole Centrale de Nantes, the Laboratoire de mathématiques Jean Leray of Nantes university and the universities of Paris 13 and Poitiers, and was organized by Samer Israwi, Basam Kojok, Ayman Mourad, Mazen Saad, Zaynab Salloum and Raafat Talhouk. It was attended by about 60 PhD students and Mathematicians coming from universities from different countries, such as Algeria, France, Lebanon and Tunisia. The workshop included courses tutorials and sessions around specific themes in which participants presented their works. It was open to any scientist interested in academic or industrial applications. It was aimed at doctoral students in mathematics, as well as senior researchers. Its objective was firstly to present a synthesis of various partial differential equations involved in fluid mechanics and populations dynamics, and on the other hand to present more recent advances in research topics such as asymptotic models in fluid mechanics, homogenization and the finite volume method. All the contributions to this special volume were submitted to regular peer review, according to the rules of the journal Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - Series S. We deeply thank all the authors for their high quality papers and the Editors of the journal for their interest in the topics of the workshop. We express our heartfelt thanks to the following sponsors: Ecole Central de Nantes and Laboratoire de Mathématques Jean Leray, Nantes University, represented by Mazen Saad, Université de Poitiers, represented by Alain Miranville, Université Paris 13, represented by Mikhael Balabane, Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Lebanese University. Finally, we express our sincere thanks to the Dean of the Doctoral School of Science and Technology at the Lebanese University, Professor Zeinab Saad, for her support throughout the workshop and to the French Embassy in Beirut, represented by its Scientific Counselor, Mr. Gilles Théodet.

Uses and abuses of education assessment in Brazil

Starting in the 1970s, Brazil developed a very complex system of quantitative assessments of education at all levels, making extensive use of statistical information and tests, in an effort to improve and maintain the quality of its education. However, with some exceptions, particularly at the graduate level, Brazilian education standards remain low, with few signs of improvement. After reviewing the existing assessment systems and their evolution, this Viewpoint argues that, although these assessments are a necessary component of any successful policy for educational improvement, they may fail without the appropriate technical and institutional considerations. Technical considerations include the need to avoid situations of reification, when the indicators, rather than education itself, become the main goal to be pursued; when obscure statistical estimations replace well-grounded psychometric measures aligned with existing curricula; when low-stakes tests are used for high-stakes purposes; and when the pedagogical, psychometric, and statistical procedures are not open to regular outside peer review. Institutional considerations include the need to make the assessment agency independent from government and other stakeholders, and to consider the large differences across the country’s regions and populations.