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In this study, we carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of abbreviations in 300 randomly collected research paper titles published in the most prestigious European and US-based Astrophysics journals written in English. Our main results show that the process of shortening words and groups of words is one of the most characteristic and recurrent features in Astrophysics research paper titling construction. In spite of the convenience of abbreviations as a mechanism for word-formation, some of them may pose certain difficulties of understanding and/or misinterpretation because of their specificity, ambiguity, or overlapping. To overcome these difficulties, we propose a series of options which with no doubt would lead to a better interaction among the different branches of Astrophysics in particular and of science in general and would definitely improve how research is currently performed and communicated.

This article examines some selected Educational Policies of First and Second Cycle Institutions in Ghana and Burkina Faso, in comparison with that of the UK and US. The purpose of the study is to itemise the commonalities and differences in Educational Policies of both developed (UK and US) and developing countries (Ghana and Burkina Faso) in order to learn from the developed countries where necessary, and to improve upon the Educational Policies and Practices in Africa. Data collection for the study includes documents studies that involve integrated literature review. Content analysis is used as the method for data analysis. The results show that several Educational Policies of the countries under review conform to the UN Educational Policy standards and could be adopted in similar context in Africa.

A mission statement that identifies the goals and aims of an honors program is a key step in program development. The National Collegiate Honors Council's Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program states unequivocally that a successful honors program "has a clear mandate from the institution's administration in the form of a mission statement or charter document that includes the objectives and responsibilities of honors and defines the place of honors in the administrative and academic structure of the institution." Such mission statements have now become standard for honors programs and colleges. Following a brief history of mission statements outside of the academic world, this paper examines the online mission statements of current honors programs. This study investigates the link between the content of U.S. honors programs' mission statements, goals to be achieved, performance indicators, and outcomes in order to determine if mission statements in the U.S. have served the purpose for which they are designed. Such a determination can offer important guidance to developing honors programs in other parts of the world.

This study followed the comparative research mode of description, interpretation, juxtaposition and comparison. Based on the literatures and data collected on the topic, the paper compared and analyzed the past, present and future of APTHS (academic proficiency test for high schools) in the two countries. Some contemplations on the common issues faced by many countries were also discussed. Compared with U.S., the status quo of the exam in China is more problematic resulting from its low professionalization on test assessment and measurement, and bureaucracy on the exam administration. For both countries, equity is the utmost concern in the future development and reform of the exam. (Contains 6 figures and 2 tables.) [This research has been funded by the No. 51 China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.]

Purpose: There is a widely held belief that sustainable development (SD) policies are essential for universities to successfully engage in matters related to sustainability, and are an indicator of the extent to which they are active in this field. This paper aims to examine the evidence which currently exists to support this assumption. It surveys a sample of universities in Brazil, Germany, Greece, Portugal, South Africa and the UK and the USA to ascertain the extent to which universities that are active in the field of sustainable development have formal policies on sustainable development, and whether such policies are a pre-condition for successful sustainability efforts. Design/methodology/approach: The study involved 35 universities in seven countries (five universities respectively). A mixed-methods approach has been used, ranging from document analysis, website analysis, questionnaires and interviewing. Findings: Although only 60 per cent of the sampled universities had a policy that specifically addressed SD, this cannot be regarded as an indicator that the remaining 40 per cent are not engaged with substantial actions that address SD. Indeed, all of the universities in the sample, regardless of the existence of a SD formal policy, demonstrated engagement with environmental sustainability policies or procedures in some form or another. This research has been limited by the availability and ability to procure information from the sampled universities. Despite this, it is one of the largest research efforts of this kind ever performed. Research limitations/implications: This research has been limited by the availability and ability to procure information from the sampled universities. Practical implications: The findings provide some valuable insights into the connections between SD policies on the one hand and the practice of sustainable development in higher education institutions on the other. Social implications: Universities with SD policies can contribute to models of economic growth consistent with sustainable development. Originality/value: The study is the one of the largest research efforts of this kind ever performed.

The preschool facility is a critical element of an effective preschool program. The recent economic downturn in the United States makes it difficult for states and individual school districts to consider developing new preschool programs or enhancing current programs or facilities. Yet many Americans still agree that public investment in preschool education is important to the nation's economic well-being. Given the importance of preschool education and the physical environment that is necessary for its successful implementation, the authors reviewed all 50 states' department of education Websites for documents related to facility planning or construction. An analysis of that work indicates that decision makers should be familiar not only with the state facility planning or construction document(s) but also, in many cases, with state early childhood learning standards documents. Thirty-one states had documents specifically related to school facility planning or construction. Only North Carolina has a document exclusively focused on early childhood facilities. Some documents make no mention of early childhood environments, whereas others, such as Ohio's, address specific topics, such as program activities, spatial relationships, environmental considerations, finishes, features, and loose furnishings. The Ohio document also includes a sample classroom layout diagram. The majority of the state facility documents merely mention preschool in reference to some specific standard (e.g., square footage). The most often addressed topics are classroom square footage minimums; playground space requirements; and restroom, window, and exit requirements. When it comes to facility planning, the golden rule is "Form Follows Function." Simply put, the facility design must reflect the instructional approach that has been selected by the community. In planning an early childhood facility, one must be familiar not only with the "facility" standards or guidelines of the state, but also any "curricular" standards or guidelines, as they will affect the facility planning process. Many states offer some form of guidance related to preschool facilities. However, those states provide research-based guidance specifically related to preschool learning environments. Preschools, for the most part, need only meet minimum local or state standards that are generally items related to health and life safety and minimum square footage requirements for indoor and outdoor areas. The development and enhancement of preschool facilities and programs state by state may be the most important educational change for the future success of the nation and its children.

The model of agricultural and industrial education for African Americans in the United States was created by Samuel Chapman Armstrong, founder of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Armstrong developed a paternal approach to educating African Americans and developed the Hampton Institute curriculum with moral education as its base. Booker T. Washington, a protege of Armstrong, carried the Hampton Model to Tuskegee, Alabama, and made it the basis for the curriculum at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. The Hampton Model applied the concepts of moral education and a "learning by doing" approach to instruction. Both Armstrong and Washington were successful in garnering public support and private financial assistance for their respective institutes. The Hampton Model was utilized by a number of schools that sprang up in years after the American Civil War. Hampton and Tuskegee often helped to raise the standard of living for African Americans in the years following the American Civil War, but these advances could not be sustained under the tremendous social pressures associated with race and ethnicity of the 20th century. (Contains 1 table.)

This article offers background information on U.S. trends in Catholic school enrollment from 1965 through the present, and presents a case study of one school that is attempting to address issues of enrollment, identity, effectiveness, and the elusive but critical essence of making a difference in the lives of students. The importance of leadership, mission, and a sense of community are reconfirmed as essential elements to the future success of Catholic schools in the United States. (Contains 1 table.)

This work analyses the structure of LIS program mission statements. The programs considered here are all ALA (American Library Association) accredited programs in the United States and Canada. The study employed content analysis through constant comparative analysis to determine the structure of the mission statements, the stakeholders represented in these as well as and the needs the programs satisfy for the different stakeholders. The results point to LIS programs employing symbolic mission statements that do not help to differentiate one program from another. The stakeholders represented were mainly students and external groups, both in interactions with one another.

This comparison seeks to determine if the three documents addressing information literacy skills and competence developed by professional library associations for postsecondary education in four predominantly English-speaking countries--the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand--have similar or varying conceptions of information literacy. In a globalized society, postsecondary institutions not only prepare students to live and work within local, regional, or national contexts but also equip them to function in a global society. If conceptions of information literacy vary between countries, then graduates might not be well prepared to function successfully within this global society.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the formative evaluation results from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Healthy School Communities (HSC) pilot project. Design/methodology/approach: This study utilized 11 HSC pilot sites in the USA (eight sites) and Canada (three sites). The evaluation question was "What are the levers of change in a school community that allow for the initiation and implementation of best practice and policy for improving school health?" Pre- and post-site visits along with in-depth interviews with school teams, teachers, students, administrators, community stakeholders and other involved individuals, school site report reviews, Healthy School Report Card results and school improvement plans were used for evaluation purposes. Findings: This study identified nine levers of change: principal as leader of the HSC efforts; active and engaged leadership; distributive team leadership; effective use of data for continuous school improvement; integration of the HSC process with the school improvement process; ongoing and embedded professional development; authentic and mutually beneficial community collaborations; stakeholder support of the local HSC effort; and creation or modification of school policy related to HSC that increased the likelihood that school improvement via health promotion would be pursued and sustained. Research limitations/implications: Owing to the qualitative methods used in this study and the number of schools in the pilot project, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed evaluation question further. Practical implications: This study has implications for schools seeking to create sustainable, systemic integration of health and education for effective health-promoting schools and continuous school improvement. Originality/value: This study provides evidence that integration of health and education can become a sustainable and integral part of a school's culture.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the policy process that led to the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in the United States and the Bush Administration's role in this process. Design/methodology/approach: The research design is historical and archival. A description of the NCLB Act is given and the major provisions and implementation are focused upon. How the Bush Administration helped create the opportunity to pass the NCLB Act by building coalitions, and how public opinion affected the evolution of the policy process is focused upon. Finally, a description is given on how policy ideas like the concept of "accountability" shaped the policy process, and both inspired and constrained the Bush Administration. Findings: The paper argues that the Bush Administration helped create the opportunity to pass the NCLB Act by building coalitions, and public opinion affected the evolution of the policy process. Policy ideas like the concept of "accountability" shaped the policy process, and both inspired and constrained the Bush Administration. Research limitations/implications: The case is limited to the United States and NCLB, although those cases are particularly important in North America and in evaluation-based research. Practical implications: The paper shows how a policy designer can be limited both by political initiatives and his or her own conceptual grounding. Originality/value: This paper is one of the first to connect the policy process that guided President Bush's design of the NCLB legislation with the concept of "accountability". Accountability is a foundational concept in the design of quality assurance systems. (Contains 5 figures and 8 notes.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore significant historical changes, legislation and policy in the UK and USA from the 1960s to present day relating to university-industry relationships. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents a review of papers, reports and policy documents from the UK and USA drawing comparisons of university-industry relations. Findings: The paper finds that many UK and USA universities were originally rooted in their communities with strong links to local industries. This culture has persisted and been strengthened through legislation in the USA but changes in UK policy have resulted in reduced industry links. Research limitations/implications: The paper draws on secondary sources. Future research will explore more directly effects of changes in UK universities on university-industry interactions. Practical implications: In recent years there has been an increasing UK government focus on university-industry links. The paper seeks to show that the success of technology transfer in the USA has deeper contextual sources, which may not be easily reproduced in the UK. The history and culture of UK universities presents a barrier to current knowledge transfer initiatives. Originality/value: Technology transfer in the UK and USA have been compared previously, but not set in the context of the history of the university sector. This has implications for current policy initiatives from UK government agencies seeking to develop university technology as a source of innovation for industry. (Contains 1 table and 3 notes.)

There has been theoretically substantiated the topicality of the specialized learning of the senior pupils of secondary educational institutions. There has been revealed the essence of specialized learning as of one of the leading forms of educational process organization in a modern school, which in its goal remains between a secondary and vocational education, providing a functional interrelation and succession between them. There has been presented a substantial analysis of state documents and curricula in physical training for senior pupils of national and foreign sports oriented secondary schools. A retrospective analysis of pedagogical literature and Internet resources in the issues of incepting ideas of pupils' specialized differentiation of learning has been conducted. It has been found out that personal direction of the sports oriented educational process envisages the wholesome system approach to each pupil's choice of a sports specialization profile, its content, means and forms of educational and extracurricular physical culture and health-improving activity, taking into account the age and individual peculiarities, locomotive and creative aptitudes to the chosen specialization profile. The work of physical training teachers of sports oriented specialized grades has been analyzed. The importance of taking into account the level of knowledge, pupils' physical fitness, their interests, aptitudes and skills for defining and studying the components of the elective module has been stressed.

This study conducted a series of content analyses of the articles published by "International Journal of Science Education", "Science Education", and "Journal of Research in Science Teaching" from 1998 to 2002. A total of 802 research papers were analyzed in terms of the authors' nationality, research types and topics. It was found that researchers in four major English-speaking countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada, contributed to a majority of the publications, but the researchers from other non-English countries may have, to a certain extent, gradually played a valuable role on the published work. This probably implies that science education research may have progressively become an important field recognized by the international academic community. This study also found that most of the published articles were categorized as empirical studies, while position, theoretical and review papers were rarely presented in the journals. Although the research topic of students' conceptions and conceptual change was the most frequently investigated one in these five years, a declining trend was observed when analyzed by year. Moreover, in 1998-2002, the research topics related to student learning contexts, and social, cultural and gender issues were also received relatively more attention among science educators.

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine changes in preservice teachers' beliefs about technology integration during the student teaching semester in USA. This study used in-depth interviews, review of documents, and observations. The findings indicated the preservice teachers' beliefs about technology integration changed in two directions. Although changes may be attributed to cooperating teachers' practices about technology integration, this study suggested that cooperating teachers' modeling does not necessarily lead preservice teachers to change their beliefs about technology integration in a positive way. Thus, this study suggested a need to build reflective activities for preservice teachers to gain access to the cooperating teachers' thinking process in the modeling process. (Contains 4 tables.)

Reading U.S. Supreme Court opinions can be intimidating. Yet, in the digital age, it has never been easier to access them. The average opinion is about 4,750 words, and is one of approximately 75 issued by the Court each year. It might be reassuring to know that opinions contain similar parts and tend to follow a similar format. There are also useful key words to identify amid the pages of a PDF or HTML text to help focus reading. This article offers a basic guide for reading and analyzing these important primary legal documents. (Contains 6 notes.)

The Common Core standards released in 2010 for English language arts and mathematics have already been adopted by dozens of states. Just how much change do these new standards represent, and what is the nature of that change? In this article, the Common Core standards are compared with current state standards and assessments and with standards in top-performing countries, as well as with reports from a sample of teachers from across the country describing their own practices. (Contains 5 figures, 7 tables, and 2 notes.)

The purpose of the study reported herein was to identify the important aspects of statistical knowledge that students in the middle school grades in United States are expected to learn as well as what the teachers are expected to teach. A systematic study of 49 states standards and one set of national standards was used to identify these important aspects, and to measure the degree of emphasis or importance suggested for the content. Results show that state and national standards differ greatly in their expectations of what topics in data analysis and statistics students and teachers should master. There is also a large variation in the degree of emphasis given to the content. The majority of the standards analyzed suggest giving greater emphasis to the selection and proper use of graphical data representation and measures of center. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

This article is an exploration of the emerging narratives on learning and teacher education in the United States and Hong Kong, as found in official policy statements and curriculum documents. Particular attention is given to Hong Kong's initiative in implementing an interdisciplinary liberal studies curriculum, and the continued professional development of teachers for this proposed change. This recent trend is used to illustrate the possibilities for a broader vision of creating and substantiating knowledge and learning in teacher education programs in the United States.

Background/Context: While much has been written about the history of immigration and naturalization in the United States, few scholars have looked at the history of citizenship education and testing. The small body of literature on the subject has primarily focused on World War I-era Americanization efforts and, as such, has excluded later periods. Further, while it has looked at citizenship education programs, it has usually done so without considering the context of the high stakes exam that immigrants must pass in order to become citizens. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Each year, tens of thousands of would-be American citizens set out to conquer the U.S. citizenship test. To do so, they must be prepared to answer 10 fact-oriented questions about American government, history, and geography selected by a naturalization examiner from a master list of 100. A score of six correct answers earns citizenship. Consequently, aspiring citizens memorize the number of Amendments to the Constitution, the branches of government, the names of three of the original American colonies, and the location of the Statue of Liberty. Most immigrants pass. This article seeks to understand the roots of the memory test that currently serves as America's gauge of fitness for citizenship. In looking back over 100 years of history, it seeks to explore how a once highly pluralistic approach to education and an anxiety-producing system of testing conducted by naturalization courts became what we know today. By asking how we got here, it also implicitly asks whether we want to maintain this status quo or seek out change. Research Design: In analyzing the history of U.S. citizenship education and examination in the 20th and early 21st centuries, this study utilizes three primary groupings of sources. First, it incorporates the voices of leaders at the naturalization agency--the organization that administers the citizenship test--through personal communications, annual reports, and other agency publications. Second, it draws on primary sources from outside of the naturalization agency, including descriptions of state naturalization efforts, reports on the purpose and practice of community Americanization programs, and evaluations of early- and mid-century naturalization agency work. Finally, it looks at the broader context within which the citizenship examination evolved, looking at the secondary literature on Americanization education by historians of education and historians of immigration, as well as at primary sources like presidential and Congressional records. Conclusions/Recommendations: This study finds that the history of citizenship preparation and testing over the course of a century, despite its fairly consistent procession towards the goals of standardization and efficiency, is not the story of an inevitable sequence of events. Policymakers recognized the pitfalls inherent in a highly centralized approach focusing on standards. Yet, in light of this, they were consistently willing to trade depth and variability for efficiency and certainty. The result has been a fair, economical, and increasingly irrelevant program for making immigrants citizens.

The Bologna Process is almost at its end and European policy-makers currently reflect on appropriate objectives and policies for the next decade. Given that the Bologna Process is generally seen as an example of unprecedented change in European higher education and that the major overarching objective of the Process was to increase the competitiveness of European higher education vis-a-vis the USA and Japan, it is worthwhile to investigate how and to what extent US higher education has responded to the European developments. This article analyses to what extent elements of the Bologna Process are reflected in recent US higher education policy discourse, using Tolbert and Zucker's (1996) framework of institutionalization which assumes a gradual process of the diffusion of an innovation. This analysis stresses a more uneven, piecemeal and even haphazard process, particularly in the initial stages of the institutionalization process, and suggests an adaptation of the framework. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures and 2 footnotes.)

The Territorial Papers of the United States are a valuable and underused resource containing almost 10,000 documents written between 1789 and 1848 about the formation of new sovereign states from US territory. These communications between the federal government and frontier settlers comprise the actual discourse of the nation's expansion over six decades. Digitizing the Territorial Papers permits the possibility of analyzing the entire corpus globally. Text mining and topic modeling methods give us a lens on the language patterns through which new state governments and the expanding nation were formed. An initial statistical analysis of the textual information provides a visualization of content, helps discern how ideals about governance emerged, and lays the foundation for developing more sophisticated hypotheses and theoretical constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's picture books contribute to children's development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children's books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating gender representation in frequently read picture books across eight early learning centres in the United States and Australia. Forty-four educators working with 271 children participated. Data were collected from book audits and observations. Unique to this study is the presentation of a new data analysis instrument, Harper's Framework of Gender Stereotypes Contained in Children's Literature. The majority of the books shared by educators in this study promoted traditional, binary and stereotypical viewpoints of gender and gender roles. These findings are concerning as the evidence shows that gender development is a critical part of the earliest and most important learning experience of young children and a requirement of educational policies rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

The aim of this study was to determine the examination of the researches about the use of technology by fine arts teachers. The study was conducted according to the content and citation analysis model. In this context, Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection indexes were included. In the document scanning in the WOS environment, the keywords 'Fine arts', 'Teachers' and 'Technology' were searched. In total, 169 documents were examined and analysed one by one. They were analysed according to year, document type, WOS content category, country, source title, organisation and citation, authors, publication language and categories. As a result of this research, the first study was conducted in 2004, while the most studies were conducted in 2016. It was concluded that the published studies had the most Proceedings papers as the document type. The area where the studies of fine arts teachers on the use of technology are mostly carried out is Education Educational Research, according to the Web of Science content category. The most researched title in the distribution according to the Source Title field is 'International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conferences on Social Sciences and Arts.' The university with the most studies is Kazan Federal University. The 19 authors who conducted the studies have a large number of studies in this field. It was concluded that other authors had only one study in the field. Again, when we look at the distribution of the countries and documents according to the language of writing, the country with the most studies is China and the language of the documents is English. The area continues to evolve.

Patriotism is an important and well-accepted value in educational institutions. As a civic virtue, it has always been included in education/training programs. This study aims to compare research articles on teaching of patriotism that were conducted in the last 20 years. The document analysis method was employed in the study for this purpose. The data were collected through the international databases e.g. Wiley, Jstore, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis. 218 articles were found by searching the keywords "patriotism", "patriotic education", and "teaching of patriotism". Upon initial analysis, it was decided that 110 articles would serve the purpose of this study. Content analysis technique was employed to reveal patterns of the selected articles. The number of articles published on patriotic education in each countries, the publication dates of these articles and the comparison of these articles according to countries, purposes, is presented in this study. The paper at hand shows that only some articles have a critical perspective on patriotism. Implications are made based on results.

To ensure the widespread dissemination of information and to foster interaction and dialogue with users, higher education institutions need to develop an active profile on the social networks. This paper analyses the influence of universities' posting strategy on their followers' engagement (reaction, virality and conversation) by measuring the level of activity and type of presence on their social networks. A content analysis was conducted to analyse 90,000 posts by 70 universities from Europe, the United States and Latin America on their institutional profiles on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The universities' posting activity on their social media is moderate (with an overall mean of 7.04 posts per day), but the interaction rate is very low (0.237), far below the recommended levels of engagement. Notably, increased activity by universities on social networks does not lead to greater engagement but points to an inverse relationship between the two. Our findings also indicate that university-created content (UCC) achieves a higher level of engagement ([x-bar] = 169.41) than university-shared content (USC) ([x-bar] = 126.18). This study explores the effect of universities' posting strategy dimensions on their follower's interaction.

The paper explores the impact of the continental system exerted on the constitutional and political evolution of both the United States and individual states and tries to characterize the development of constitutional review phenomenon within the framework of the continental legal system and the Anglo-Saxon legal system. The research stands on the comparative legal analysis methodology within a diachronically featured paradigm. The paper explores the ways through which the continental system could exert relevant impact on the constitutional and political evolution of both the United States and individual states. Further on the article traces the development of the concepts of constitutional review within the framework of the continental legal system and the Anglo-Saxon legal system. The above stages of the analysis allowed the author to outline the specifics, nature of the essence of judicial review in the context of axiological analysis of public activities. The study concludes that judicial review is used to elucidate to what extent a rule of conduct complies with the safeguards of human and civil rights and liberties set out in a specific country.

Introduction: This pilot study examined how current information behaviour research addresses the implications and potential impacts of its findings. The goal was to understand what implications and contributions the field has made and how effectively authors communicate implications of their findings. Methods: We conducted a content analysis of 30 randomly selected refereed research papers on information behaviour published between 2008 and 2012 in the U.S. and Canada. Analysis: Analysed elements included journal, year, author affiliation, types of implications, theory, methodology, context and scope of implications, location of implications, intended audience, beneficiaries, and future research. Results: Twenty-three papers offered practical implications; seven included both practical and scholarly implications. Only eight papers referenced theory and of these, only three generated theoretical implications. Seventy percent of studies discussed practical implications for librarians and archivists. Implications were often context-bound in that they related to a particular group or environment. Conclusion: The impact of information behaviour research encompasses a range of areas. A stronger relationship between theory, practice and research must be achieved to advance the field. To facilitate generation of stronger implications, we proposed six components of implications and suggested criteria for strong, moderate and weak research implications.

A content analysis of The Washington Post and the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung revealed that both papers relied on official sources, but the German paper provided far less coverage of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the web sites of daily newspapers as well as web-only news sites for the presence of information referred to by media critic Steve Outing as credibility statements. The Internet allows journalists to post information almost as soon as they receive it, a quality seen by many journalists as having a positive impact on the profession. A total of 196 news sites were content analyzed. The online editions of the top 100 daily U.S. newspapers by circulation based on March 31, 2004, figures were made part of the sampling frame as were the top papers in the 11 states not represented in the top 100. 118 of the sites analyzed posted information satisfying at least one of the six criteria for editorial policy statements. More than half discussed journalistic principles and one-third disclosed their business relationships. There were significant differences between the two groups regarding their implementation of several of the criteria. Web-only news sites were more likely to post information about journalistic principles, report business relationships and discuss business influences on editorial content. Most Internet news sites do not provide information concerning employee conduct, the influence of business relationships on editorial content or standards for separating editorial content from advertising.

Introduction There is anecdotal evidence that health messages interpreted from waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) research are inconsistent, such as comparing the health effects of one WTS session with that of 100 cigarettes. This study aimed to identify key health themes about WTS discussed by online news media, and how numerical cigarette–waterpipe equivalence (CWE) was being interpreted. Methods We identified 1065 online news articles published between March 2011 and September 2012 using the ‘Google Alerts' service. We screened for health themes, assessed statements mentioning CWE and reported differences between countries. We used logistic regression to identify factors associated with articles incorrectly reporting a CWE equal to or greater than 100 cigarettes, in the absence of any comparative parameter (‘CWE ≥100 cigarettes'). Results Commonly mentioned health themes were the presence of tobacco (67%) and being as bad as cigarettes (49%), and we report on differences between countries. While 10.8% of all news articles contained at least one positive health theme, 22.9% contained a statement about a CWE. Most of these (18.6% total) were incorrectly a CWE ≥100 cigarettes, a quarter of which were made by healthcare professionals/organisations. Compared with the Middle East, articles from the USA and the UK were the most significant predictors to contain a CWE ≥100 cigarettes statement. Conclusions Those wishing to write or publish information related to WTS may wish to avoid comparing WTS to cigarettes using numerical values as this is a major source of confusion. Future research is needed to address the impact of the media on the attitudes, initiation and cessation rates of waterpipe smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The news media plays an important role in agenda setting and framing of stories about tobacco control. The purpose of this study was to examine newspaper, newswire and television coverage of tobacco issues in the USA over a 7-year period. Methods Analyses of 2004-2010 news media surveillance system data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health, based on content analysis and quantitative methods. Information on extent of news coverage, and types of tobacco-related themes, were examined from articles in 10 newspapers and 2 major newswires, as well as transcripts from 6 national television networks. Results The overall extent of newspaper, newswire and television stories about tobacco, and level of coverage by specific media outlets, varied over time, especially for newspapers. Nevertheless, there was an average of 3 newspaper stories, 4 newswire stories, and 1 television tobacco-related story each day. Television stories were more likely to contain cessation/addiction or health effects/statistics themes and less likely to contain secondhand smoke or policy/regulation themes than newspaper/newswire stories. There was more variation in the choice of tobacco theme among individual newspapers/newswires than television media outlets. Conclusions News coverage of tobacco in the USA was relatively constant from 2004 to 2010. Audiences were more likely to be exposed to different tobacco themes in newspapers/newswires than on television. Tracking information about tobacco news stories can be used by advocates, programs and others for planning and evaluation, and by researchers for hypothesis generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we review fifty years of articles published in Australian Journal of Adult Learning in its various iterations. We examine the different roles of the journal: to illuminate the history and trends of adult education authors; to be the flagship of the adult education profession in Australia; to reflect on significant national events; and to mirror the changing knowledge base of the discipline. We analyse the authorship of the articles over fifty years, and determine patterns in contribution to the journal by gender, location, institutional affiliation and author numbers. We also examine key themes that have surfaced in the writings on adult education. The articles published in the journal are significant because they are primary sources of the day, unfettered by the perspectives, viewpoints and standards of later periods. Our paper serves as a useful looking glass through which we might be able to view more clearly the shifting research interests of the past and the challenges in the future for the adult and community learning sector. (Contains 11 figures and 6 tables.)

This literature review aims to examine the approach given to open science policy in the different studies. The main findings are that the approach given to open science has different aspects: policy framing and its geopolitical aspects are described as an asymmetries replication and epistemic governance tool. The main geopolitical aspects of open science policies described in the literature are the relations between international, regional, and national policies. There are also different components of open science covered in the literature: open data seems much discussed in the works in the English language, while open access is the main component discussed in the Portuguese and Spanish speaking papers. Finally, the relationship between open science policies and the science policy is framed by highlighting the innovation and transparency that open science can bring into it.

Many geoscience phenomena cannot be perceived at human temporal or spatial scales. As a consequence, we can only understand many processes that drive geological phenomena through analogical reasoning. Building deep conceptual understanding requires instruction that activates the appropriate source analogs and allows students to build useful conceptual metaphors. In this paper we illustrate, using plate tectonics as an example, how educational guidelines for teaching geosciences can be developed by linking the Model of Educational Reconstruction with Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Qualitative content analysis in combination with systematic metaphor analysis of scientific textbooks and semi-structured interviews conducted with students (n = 36) provided insight into the image schemas used by scientists and learners. Difficulties in understanding plate tectonics structures and processes, e.g. subduction, arise because many students understand tectonic plates as single bodies, rather than composites. Similarly, students' difficulties explaining plate movement result from activation of a push rather than a pull schema. Through exploring schemas for plate tectonics, we illustrate the value of combining Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the Model of Educational Reconstruction for (1) understanding alternative conceptions as grounded in image schemas and (2) developing educational guidelines for improving instruction.