Therapeutic change in Colombian families dealing with violence: therapists, clients, and referring systems in conversation

There is a gap in the Marriage and Family Therapy literature regarding clients', therapists', and family judges' theories of change in relational therapy for family violence. We conducted in-depth interviews with eleven court-referred families, their therapists, and two family judges in Bogota, Colombia. Interviews focused on their expectations of therapy outcomes, their understanding of change, and their evaluation of individual and relational therapy outcomes. We followed a grounded theory approach to data analysis. Analyses showed that therapists, family judges, and clients hold different expectations and theories regarding therapeutic change. Findings are discussed based on existing research on clients' and therapists' ideas about change. Implications for future research and practice are presented.     

What it means to be special: two sisters discuss their experiences

In this article, two adolescent sisters discuss and reflect upon the impact that the special education classification of one of them has had on their lives. The sisters, co-authors of this text, participated in designing the study and analyzing the data we produced; their voices are the core of this article. Issues about inclusion, the harms and benefits of special education classification, stigma, the multi-edged meanings of what it means to be “special,” and the often complicit roles of educators in perpetuating exclusionary policies all arise in the sisters’ discussions with each other, with their co-authors, and with pre-service teachers.     

Integration of time as a factor in ergonomic simulation

The paper describes the application of a simulation based ergonomic evaluation. Within a pilot project, the algorithms of the screening method of the European Assembly Worksheet were transferred into an existing digital human model. Movement data was recorded with an especially developed hybrid Motion Capturing system. A prototype of the system was built and is currently being tested at the Volkswagen Group. First results showed the feasibility of the simulation based ergonomic evaluation with Motion Capturing.     

固守·承继·创新——汤池试验留给我们的启示

伴随着时代的不断发展,中国正大踏步地迈进世界的大舞台。面对多元文化的冲击,中国传统文化的继承与弘扬正面临着诸多的考验,人们为此做出过许多的探索与努力。汤池的庐江中华文化教育中心也正是其中之一。汤池的试验,对于承继传统文化提供的启示是：坚定弘扬传统文化的信念,注重传统文化对人由外而内的塑造以及实现传统与现代的对接。     

On algorithmic construction of maximin distance designs

Maximin distance designs are useful for conducting expensive computer experiments. In this article, we compare some global optimization algorithms for constructing such designs. We also introduce several related space-filling designs, including nested maximin distance designs, sliced maximin distance designs, and general maximin distance designs with better projection properties. These designs possess more flexible structures than their analogs in the literature. Examples of these designs constructed by the algorithms are presented.     

科学霸权主义与人的困境

在西方现代化进程中，科学极大地解放了人的智力和体力，为人的自由发展提供了条件。然而，当科学的权威急剧膨胀变异成科学霸权主义，科学成为奴役人的工具时，却造成了人的困境。我国正处于现代化建设的进程中，需要吸收和借鉴西方科学发展进程中的经验和教训，发展一种厚道的、有机的科学具有重要的现实意义。     

从日本传统文化看日本狭隘民族使命观的形成

民族使命观是指一个民族对本民族使命及其实现途径、方式的总的看法和根本观点。如果一个民族把自己的使命基点放在掠夺异族或别国之上,或在实现其使命的途径和方式上崇尚武力,津津乐道于军国主义、法西斯主义,无视别国、异族的存在,或在民族视野上显示出极端的偏狭性,那么,这种使命观就是狭隘的民族使命观。日本是一个具有强烈民族使命意识的国家。近、现代以来一系列事实表明,日本的民族使命观是不正常的和不合理的,因为日本以“日本民族优越论”为其使命的逻辑理念,以崇尚武力和掠夺异域、异族为其实现民族使命的手段,在观察世界的视域上…     

Assessing the relevance of higher education courses

The establishment of the European Higher Education Area has involved specifying lists of professional competencies that programs are expected to develop, and with this the need for procedures to measure how every course within a higher education program is aligned with the program's competencies. We propose an instrument for characterizing this alignment, a process that we call assessing the relevance of a course. Using information from the course syllabus (objectives, contents and assessment scheme), our instrument produces indicators for characterizing the syllabus in terms of a competence list and for assessing its coherence. Because assessment involves quality, the results obtained can also be used to revise and improve the course syllabus. We illustrate this process with an example of a methods course from a mathematics teacher education program at a Spanish university.     

Peeking into the past to plan the future: Assessing bird species richness in a neotropical city

Urbanization has been considered as a major threat to biodiversity, making its ecology of increasing interest. Many urban ecology studies have been developed in a short time-scale, measuring real-time patterns. However, long-term studies are imperative to understand the responses of some species to the urbanization process. In this study, we aimed to assess the information provided by a recent one-year citywide bird survey when compared to a published ‘historical’ bird list of a neotropical city (Xalapa, Mexico) that compiles information of the past three decades, mainly from urban greenspaces. Specifically, we contrasted species richness values and assessed differences in species composition between both lists. We recorded 51 species in the one-year citywide survey, representing ~15 % of those reported in the historical list. Nonetheless, the upper-bound confidence interval of the citywide survey richness prediction represented ~66 %. Most of the species recorded in the one-year citywide survey are insectivores and granivores, a pattern that agrees with previous findings that underline the importance of insectivores as part of urban bird communities in the Neotropics. Although we used robust methods to compare our one-year citywide bird list and the historical list for the city of Xalapa, we acknowledge the limitations of comparing them. However, our results shed some light on the kind and type of information that one-year citywide surveys can provide and the importance of long-term studies for comprehending the processes involved in biodiversity changes within urban areas over time. Undoubtedly, establishing long-term citywide surveys sampling birds and other biodiversity groups will allow us to better understand the response of biodiversity to urbanization over time.