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The higher education efficiency evaluation model using the data envelopment analysis method has interested many researchers. This paper uses bibliometric analysis on publications extracted from the Scopus database to provide a comprehensive overview of research publications on the measurement of higher education efficiency based on data envelopment analysis: its growth rate, major collaboration networks, the most important and popular research topic. A total of 169 related publications were collected and analyzed from 1988 to 2021. The analysis results show that: Publications published every year have increased sharply in the last six years; The quality of publications is relatively high as publications tend to be published in journals with high-ranking indexes; Countries with the most influence in studies on this topic are: Italy, China, Spain, the USA, and the United Kingdom; Authors with the most influence in this research direction are Agasisti T., Abbott M., Doucouliagos C., Avkiran N.K., and Johnes J.; The research cooperation among countries and among affiliations is not strong. Finally, the paper has provided recommendations for future studies based on the findings.

There is an increasing interest and growing practice in Citizen Science (CS) that goes along with the usage of websites for communication as well as for capturing and processing data and materials. From an educational perspective, it is expected that by integrating information about CS in a formal educational setting, it will inspire teachers to create learning activities. This is an interesting case for using bots to automate the process of data extraction from online CS platforms to better understand its use in educational contexts. Although this information is publicly available, it has to follow GDPR rules. This paper aims to explain (1) how CS communicates and is promoted on websites, (2) how web scraping methods and anonymization techniques have been designed, developed and applied to collect information from online sources and (3) how these data could be used for educational purposes. After the analysis of 72 websites, some of the results obtained show that only 24.8% includes detailed information about the CS project and 48.61% includes information about educational purposes or materials.

Teachers often use analogies to introduce unfamiliar or complex concepts. However, several studies have found that their knowledge on how to use them is limited or superficial. Similarly, the integration of technological resources in the teaching-learning processes is not always carried out efficiently, which evidences the need to improve teachers' digital competence. This paper provides a formative sequence on the use of analogies in teaching through mediation of technological resources, implemented in the context of the initial training of secondary education teachers. The results show a positive assessment by the students, a change in their perceptions on the subject and some progress in their classroom proposal designs. The conclusion is that it is necessary to train future teachers to deal with common teaching problems in a reflective, comprehensive and innovative way, which will undoubtedly be one of the challenges of education in the 21st century.

This paper introduces a learning analytics policy and strategy framework developed by a cross-European research project team -- SHEILA (Supporting Higher Education to Integrate Learning Analytics), based on interviews with 78 senior managers from 51 European higher education institutions across 16 countries. The framework was developed adapting the RAPID Outcome Mapping Approach (ROMA), which is designed to develop effective strategies and evidence-based policy in complex environments. This paper presents four case studies to illustrate the development process of the SHEILA framework and how it can be used iteratively to inform strategic planning and policy processes in real world environments, particularly for large-scale implementation in higher education contexts. To this end, the selected cases were analyzed at two stages, each a year apart, to investigate the progression of adoption approaches that were followed to solve existing challenges, and identify new challenges that could be addressed by following the SHEILA framework.

Education is the core of the factors that improved people for a better lifestyle and increases the level of society' development. Quality education is one of the most vital goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to actualizing these factors. Using relational network data envelopment analysis (DEA), which have three interrelated substages, this current paper computes the educational economy efficiency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries bearing in mind the characteristics related to SDGs. The contribution of our study is the use of a novel approach to computing the educational economy efficiency using relational network DEA with GAMS. Even though some interesting differences reveal in the efficiency of the countries, the findings show that countries with high-efficiency scores are clustered around countries like Latvia, Slovenia, and Korea.

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), a therapy based on radical behaviorism, establishes the priority of the therapeutic interaction as a mechanism of change in psychotherapy. Since the first book on FAP appeared in 1991, it has been the focus of many papers and has been incorporated by the community of behavior therapists. This paper is a review of 80 international publications on FAP from 1990 to 2010, including publications from Brazil, the United States, Spain, Switzerland and Colombia. The goal was to analyze how FAP has been treated and developed across these 20 years, and also to propose some directions for further studies. The analysis suggests a diverse range of FAP publications, points to the necessity of more empirical studies with tighter control of variables and objective measurement of data to better understand FAP's process and effectiveness, and highlights the importance of increased communication between international research groups to increase the potential benefits of singular and collective research efforts on FAP. (Contains 2 tables and 7 figures.)

This paper describes the results of a study to compare contemporary e-journal licenses from two research universities in the United States and Spain in terms of e-reserves, interlibrary loan, text and data mining, authors' rights and treatment of copyright exceptions, usage statistics, governing law, data privacy, and obligations entailing security. The data include a higher proportion of scholarly society and academic press publishers than earlier license analyses. This analysis compares license terms over time, across publisher types and between the two libraries, and it compares findings with recommendations from model licenses. The results show progress toward model license goals in some areas, but deficiencies in others including self-archiving, usage statistics clauses, and clauses related to e-resource data privacy and library security and disciplinary obligations. Our findings also raise questions about international ILL and governing venue clauses in library licenses outside the North American context.

Even though undeniable social changes such as gender discrimination have occurred, the forms of access to public education and employment, as well as the conditions under which these jobs are carried out, are often loaded with sexist biases. Using the biographical-narrative method and a combination of techniques and strategies for gathering and analysing information, the current paper presents an empirical longitudinal study examining the labour situation of rural women who participate in different employment--professional and guidance--training activities. The women's perceptions and interpretations of their training and professional situations were analysed, as well as their opportunities related to finding a job when they completed their education. Additionally, this study examined the extent to which the public services for employment training were adequate and functional for women regarding whether these services achieved their anticipated aims. We concluded gender inequalities on the employment situation of women, and the importance of implementing urgent measures to fight against the employment crisis from an equality way.

As a further step towards maturity, the field of learning analytics (LA) is working on the definition of frameworks that structure the legal and ethical issues that scholars and practitioners must take into account when planning and applying LA solutions to their learning contexts. However, current efforts in this direction tend to be focused on institutional higher education approaches. This paper reflects on the need to extend these ethical frameworks to cover other approaches to LA; more concretely, small-scale classroom-oriented approaches that aim to support teachers in their practice. This reflection is based on three studies where we applied our teacher-led learning analytics approach in higher education and primary school contexts. We describe the ethical issues that emerged in these learning scenarios, and discuss them according to three dimensions: the overall learning analytics approach, the particular solution to learning analytics adopted, and the educational contexts where the analytics are applied. We see this effort as a first step towards the wider objective of providing a more comprehensive and adapted ethical framework to learning analytics that is able to address the needs of different learning analytics approaches and educational contexts.

As the prevalence of service-learning (S-L) within higher education institutions grows across the globe, it makes sense to explore, describe and discuss the recent situation in Spain. As a relatively new pedagogy, S-L has gained prominence in Spanish higher education since its emergence in the early 2000s, and it is increasingly used. This article analyses S-L in higher education in Spain with the purpose of understanding the expression of this promising teaching strategy. The paper is based on documentary analysis of key documents from the last official conference of the S-L that took place in Bilbao (2013). Data was analyzed using thematic analysis and grounded theory, with Atlas.Ti. The process of data analysis was based on a thematic framework of three categories: [1] S-L University Qualifications, [2] S-L Institutionalization status, and [3] S-L Possibilities and Positive effects. This analysis can deepen understanding of the S-L pedagogy, improve practice and create a framework for future research.

The purpose of this study is to analyze how global research cooperation patterns in the secondary battery industry have changed over recent years and to identify the evolution in the focus of research. To this end, network analysis was performed using the nationality information of the authors of a 10-year multinational joint research paper related to lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, keyword analysis and topic modeling were performed using the abstract data from the study. The results of this study confirm that some countries that are not well-known in the field, such as Australia, Spain, and France, showed high centrality, compared with the level of cooperation scale. Additionally, six research topics were identified. According to a comparison over the first half of the decade, no difference was observed in the appearance of keywords indicating high energy density and conductivity with lithium, a key mineral. Keyword distribution was high for topics like battery charging and discharging in the first half of the decade, and for next-generation battery materials, such as solid electrolytes, lithium metal anodes, and lithium–sulfur batteries in the second. These results provide insights into the establishment of research and development (R&D) cooperation strategies by countries and pre-planning by companies in the battery industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that determine the acceptance of the WebCT learning system among students of the faculties of Business and Education Sciences at the University of Huelva, and to verify the direct and indirect effects of these factors. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 226 students at the University of Huelva completed a survey questionnaire measuring their responses to six constructs which explain the system usage in the context of e-learning: technical support (TS); computer self-efficacy (CSE); perceived ease of use (PEOU); perceived usefulness (PU); attitude (A); and system usage (SU). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed for modelling and data analysis. Findings: The most significant results point to the need to rethink the original structural model in terms of the relations of certain variables, although the authors also establish the importance of the direct effect of technical support on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness among the students. The authors also confirm that WebCT usage and acceptance is directly influenced by perceived usefulness and indirectly by perceived ease of use. Originality/value: The findings in this study have implications for the virtual learning systems managers at the University of Huelva, and for other universities that use online tuition systems. This paper reflects a lack of technical support which students need to use WebCT more efficiently and shows that training courses and technical assistance for students must be extended. (Contains 7 tables and 2 figures.)

Educational software tools are considered to enrich teaching strategies, providing a more compelling means of exploration and feedback than traditional blackboard methods. Moreover, software simulators provide a more motivating link between theory and practice than pencil-paper methods, encouraging active and discovery learning in the students. The use and development of educational software is a field that has grasped the attention of teachers and researchers from different disciplines and theoretical frameworks in the last few years. In this paper, the authors present SoftwarE for Learning Formal languages and Automata theory (SELFA), an educational software simulator tool, designed to improve the quality of teaching in Theory of Computation courses. The aim of this tool is to make it easier to teach and to learn the main concepts of this subject, whose level of abstraction makes both activities difficult. The main advantage of this tool over other software tools designed with the same purpose, is that it has been developed using web technologies. This allows the user to collect and analyze data on how and when a student or group has used the tool. These numerical data can then be used to evaluate the student's work. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)

The aim of this article is three-fold: (a) to present an example of best practices in formative assessment in university instruction, offering three different methods of learning and assessment to pass a subject; (b) to analyze differences in academic performance depending on method of learning and assessment chosen; (c) to consider professors' and students' evaluation of these assessment methods, as well as analyze the workload these methods suppose for both students and professors. The design is based on a single case study. The study analyzes the results obtained in a third-year course at the University of Valladolid (Spain) that participated in an ECTS pilot program. Data was collected during academic year 2009-10. Total number of registered students was 77. This paper describes the procedure to develop a formative assessment system and collect data, as well as the main techniques to obtain and analyze data. Findings indicate that there are important differences in student academic performance depending on the learning and assessment method employed in an academic course. Courses using formative and ongoing assessment result in significantly higher student academic performance than courses using other learning and assessment methods. Lastly, empirical data suggest that the workload is in line with the ECTS European Credit Transfer System, and is not excessive for the professor. However, students' subjective perception is that this method involves a heavier workload. These findings may be important, given the current process of convergence towards the new Degrees and ECTS credit system, and the need to adapt these degrees and credits to students' real workload.

Data mining is known to have a potential for predicting user performance. However, there are few studies that explore its potential for predicting student behavior in a procedural training environment. This paper presents a collective student model, which is built from past student logs. These logs are first grouped into clusters. Then, an extended automaton is created for each cluster based on the sequences of events found in the cluster logs. The main objective of this model is to predict the actions of new students for improving the tutoring feedback provided by an intelligent tutoring system. The proposed model has been validated using student logs collected in a 3D virtual laboratory for teaching biotechnology. As a result of this validation, we concluded that the model can provide reasonably good predictions and can support tutoring feedback that is better adapted to each student type.

Copyright of Flora Montibérica is the property of Flora Montiberica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Telos is the property of Revista Telos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: During the past academic year in Spain, more than 500,000 immigrant students were enrolled in primary and secondary schools. School is one of those places available to society for creating spaces for coexistence and for changing attitudes. The teacher plays a very important role in this task. In this paper we will observe opinions and attitudes of future teachers regarding immigration, and particularly immigration at school. Method: In order to analyze these attitudes, we have developed two instruments: the scale of attitudes towards immigration and the scale of attitudes towards multiculturality at school. In order to analyze the psychometric characteristics of these scales we worked with 300 students in Teacher Training at the Universities of Extremadura (Spain) and of Evora (Portugal). For data analysis related to this work we selected 200 students at the University of Extremadura. Results: Both attitude scales have very acceptable psychometric characteristics. There were significant differences in the factor "Negative Social Distance" associated with the variables for type of degree program and for knowledge of, or lack of knowledge of, an immigrant group. There are significant correlations between the total scores and scale factors. Discussion: For an explanation of differences associated with type of degree program, one must look into academic and preparatory criteria, and even consider the entrance profile which differentiates students in one degree program from another. Students unfamiliar with an immigrant group maintain more negative attitudes. This fact agrees with research which considers positive contact with immigrants and having immigrant friends as factors that reduce perceived threat and reduce prejudice and discrimination. The most negative perception towards immigrants is found toward North Africans, as opposed to Latin Americans, thus confirming prior research. Finally, significant correlations between the two scales and their factors confirm the need for future teachers, during their time at university, to be made aware of the importance of their beliefs towards immigration and how these will influence a multi-cultural classroom. (Contains 8 tables.)

Featured Application: This work expands the understanding of science and technology parks (STPs) and can also guide STP decision makers by incorporating data science and artificial intelligence tools, as well as guiding policy makers on how to promote innovation. The role played by science and technology parks (STPs) in technology transfer, industrial innovation, and economic growth is examined in this paper. The accurate monitoring of their evolution and impact is hindered by the lack of uniformity in STP models or goals, and the scarcity of high-quality datasets. This work uses existing terminologies, definitions, and core features of STPs to conduct a multidimensional data analysis that explores and evaluates the 21 core features which describe the key internal factors of an STP. The core features are gathered from a reliable and updatable dataset of Spanish STPs. The methodological framework can be replicated for other STP contexts and is based on descriptive techniques and machine-learning tools. The results of the study provide an overview of the general situation of STPs in Spain, validate the existence and characteristics of three types of STPs, and identify the typical features of STPs. Moreover, the prototype STP can be used as a benchmark so that other STPs can identify the features that need to be improved. Finally, this work makes it possible to carry out classifications of STPs, in addition to prediction and decision making for innovation ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers: Revista de Sociologia is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper uses highly disaggregated data to analyze the convergence process in product‐level relative productivity across Spanish provinces. Over the period 1988‐2013 there is a 53 per cent reduction in product‐level relative productivity differences across provinces. The speed of convergence in product‐level productivity is faster than in income per capita. Provinces that are geographically close, have strong ties and share similar factor endowments become more similar in product‐level relative productivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm is a well-known algorithm for spatial-clustering data point clouds. It can be applied to many applications, such as crack detection, rockfall detection, and glacier movement detection. Traditional DBSCAN requires two predefined parameters. Suitable values of these parameters depend upon the distribution of the input point cloud. Therefore, estimating these parameters is challenging. This paper proposed a new version of DBSCAN that can automatically customize the parameters. The proposed method consists of two processes: initial parameter estimation based on grid analysis and DBSCAN based on the divide-and-conquer (DC-DBSCAN) approach, which repeatedly performs DBSCAN on each cluster separately and recursively. To verify the proposed method, we applied it to a 3D point cloud dataset that was used to analyze rockfall events at the Puiggcercos cliff, Spain. The total number of data points used in this study was 15,567. The experimental results show that the proposed method is better than the traditional DBSCAN in terms of purity and NMI scores. The purity scores of the proposed method and the traditional DBSCAN method were 96.22% and 91.09%, respectively. The NMI scores of the proposed method and the traditional DBSCAN method are 0.78 and 0.49, respectively. Also, it can detect events that traditional DBSCAN cannot detect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recommending the identity of bidders in public procurement auctions (tenders) has a significant impact in many areas of public procurement, but it has not yet been studied in depth. A bidders recommender would be a very beneficial tool because a supplier (company) can search appropriate tenders and, vice versa, a public procurement agency can discover automatically unknown companies which are suitable for its tender. This paper develops a pioneering algorithm to recommend potential bidders using a machine learning method, particularly a random forest classifier. The bidders recommender is described theoretically, so it can be implemented or adapted to any particular situation. It has been successfully validated with a case study: an actual Spanish tender dataset (free public information) which has 102,087 tenders from 2014 to 2020 and a company dataset (nonfree public information) which has 1,353,213 Spanish companies. Quantitative, graphical, and statistical descriptions of both datasets are presented. The results of the case study were satisfactory: the winning bidding company is within the recommended companies group, from 24% to 38% of the tenders, according to different test conditions and scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of privatization on the efficiency of five of the biggest Spanish state-owned companies: Repsol, Iberia, Endesa, Telefónica and REE, which enjoy monopoly status in sectors like energy, telecommunications and air transport. Design/methodology/approach - The paper applies the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and. Tobit analysis to analyze efficiency changes and to determine the effect of the ownership and board structure on technical efficiency. Findings - The results show that the improvements in efficiency are not related to the privatization. Thus the empirical research suggests that a change of ownership per se is not sufficient to bring about the effects forecast by privatization advocators. Research limitations/implications - More research regarding other issues such as organizational changes, strategic alliances and market regulation is needed, as they are factors that explain efficiency variations. Originality/value - The study contributes to the literature on privatization because it adds new empirical evidence about Spain, questioning whether the privatization programs have helped to improve the efficiency of the companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Filología Alemana is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BACKGROUND: Newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are in contact with a variety of medical products whose production might include synthetic chemicals with hormonal activity. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to assess the content of bisphenol A (BPA) and parabens (PBs) and the hormone-like activities of a subset of medical products commonly used in NICUs in prolonged intimate contact with NICU newborns. METHODS: Fifty-two NICU items were analyzed, determining the concentrations of BPA and PBs [methyl- (MeP), ethyl- (EtP), propyl- (PrP), and butylparaben (BuP)] and using the E-Screen and PALM-luciferase assays to measure the in vitro (anti-)estrogenic and (anti-)androgenic activity, respectively, of the extracts. Items found to have elevated BPA/PB content or hormone-like activities were further extracted using leaching methodologies. RESULTS: BPA was found in three-fifths and PBs in four-fifths of tested NICU items, and ~25% and ~10% of extracts evidenced estrogenic and anti-androgenic activity, respectively. The highest BPA content was found in the three-way stopcock (>7.000 ng/g), followed by patterned transparent film dressing, gastro-duodenal feeding tubes, sterile gloves, single-lumen umbilical catheters, and intravenous (IV) infusion extension sets (concentrations ranged from 100 to 700 ng/g BPA). A total PB concentration (?PPBs) >100 ng/g was observed in several items, including light therapy protection glasses, patterned transparent film dressing, winged IV catheters, IV infusion extension sets, and textile tape. The highest estrogenic activity [>450 pM estradiol equivalent (E2eq)] was found in small dummy nipples, three-way stopcocks, and patterned transparent film dressing and the highest anti-androgenic activity [>5 mM procymidone equivalent units per gram (Proceq/g)] in small dummy nipples and three-way stopcocks. DISCUSSION: According to these findings, neonates might be exposed to multiple sources of BPA and PBs in NICUs via inhalation, dermal, oral, and IV/parenteral routes. There is a need to address the future health implications for these extremely vulnerable patients and to adopt precautionary preventive measures as a matter of urgency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, Nueva Época (GAPP) is the property of Instituto Nacional de Administracion Publica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Women report a heightened concern of (breast) cancer, relative to other chronic conditions. This experimental study investigated whether such heightened concern may be a function of availability bias. Methods: participants (N = 750; 100% female) were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: in the recall condition, they were asked to name the health condition they feared most; in the recognition condition, they picked the disease they feared most out of a list of chronic conditions. Results: The probability of selecting cancer as the most frightening disease varied as a function of experimental condition χ2 (10) = 112.13, p < 0.001. Participants in the recall condition were almost twice as likely to select cancer as the most frightening disease (N = 240, 59.10%) as those in the recognition condition (N = 121, 35.20%), who most frequently selected neurological diseases as the most threatening. The majority of participants believed that cancer was the disease receiving the most media attention (86.27%) (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), and the one accounting for the highest number of deaths among Spanish females (63.50%). Conclusions: altogether, these results provide experimental evidence that availability bias may partly account for misperceptions and a heightened fear of cancer, which may narrow the scope of women's information-seeking and health-preventive behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence supports the simultaneous relationship between parental warmth and child-to-parent violence (CPV). However, no studies analyze the lagged effects of perceived parental warmth and the potential impact of cognitive mechanisms legitimizing immoral behavior on this relationship. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of moral disengagement strategies (reconstruction of immoral behavior, obscuring personal responsibility, misrepresenting injurious consequences, and blaming the victim) in the relationship between the perceived paternal and maternal warmth dimensions (warmth-communication and criticism-rejection) during childhood and CPV towards the father and mother. The sample included 2122 Spanish adolescents (57.7% female) aged 13 to 18 years. The Child-to-Parent Violence Questionnaire (CPV-Q), the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale (MMDS-S), and the Warmth Scale were used as assessment instruments. The results indicate that paternal and maternal warmth-communication is negatively associated with CPV, whereas paternal and maternal criticism-rejection and moral disengagement strategies are positively related to CPV. The mediation models show that the reconstruction of immoral behavior plays a crucial mediation role in the relationship between paternal and maternal warmth-communication and CPV as well as in the relationship between maternal criticism-rejection and CPV. The results emphasize the necessity of early prevention programs for parents promoting positive parenting practices, including parental warmth, to foster children's adaptive socio-cognitive development. In addition, addressing moral disengagement in adolescents could help prevent or stop a pattern of violent behavior toward parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that determine the acceptance of the WebCT learning system among students of the faculties of Business and Education Sciences at the University of Huelva, and to verify the direct and indirect effects of these factors. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 226 students at the University of Huelva completed a survey questionnaire measuring their responses to six constructs which explain the system usage in the context of e-learning: technical support (TS); computer self-efficacy (CSE); perceived ease of use (PEOU); perceived usefulness (PU); attitude (A); and system usage (SU). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed for modelling and data analysis. Findings – The most significant results point to the need to rethink the original structural model in terms of the relations of certain variables, although the authors also establish the importance of the direct effect of technical support on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness among the students. The authors also confirm that WebCT usage and acceptance is directly influenced by perceived usefulness and indirectly by perceived ease of use. Originality/value – The findings in this study have implications for the virtual learning systems managers at the University of Huelva, and for other universities that use online tuition systems. This paper reflects a lack of technical support which students need to use WebCT more efficiently and shows that training courses and technical assistance for students must be extended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting for the time individuals spend below the poverty line is an important dimension in order to design social policies to fight against poverty. The literature is currently aiming to construct a consistent aggregate measure of poverty over time that takes into account individual income lifetime profiles. It is however, far from clear which aspects of the specific patterns of poverty spells should be included. Using longitudinal data for Spain, this paper shows that the effect of spell recurrence on poverty dynamics is relevant. Poverty exit and re-entry rates vary not only with personal or household characteristics but also with spell accumulation and the duration of current and past spells. In general, our main findings support that an aggregate intertemporal poverty index should incorporate full individual poverty lifetime trajectories accounting for both poverty and non-poverty spell durations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]