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The Research Center for Autonomous Road Vehicles (RECAR) was founded in 2015 upon the initiative of the Faculty of Transportation Engineering and Vehicle Engineering of Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The research center is supported by industrial partners and other academic partners targeting research and educational purposes. In complement to this project, the construction of a new automotive test track is also under development especially for autonomous road vehicle testing serving as automotive proving ground in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary. Accordingly, an intensive research has been started in RECAR center in the field of autonomous vehicle technology. The paper's goal is to share the main practical and methodological experiences with the scientific audience as well as the industrial sector. Based on the initial research actions we intend to enlighten the upcoming research challenges of driverless vehicles and automated intelligent transport system. Basically, three main topics are concerned. Firstly, the main issues concerning autonomous vehicle research are summarized. Secondly, the requirements for autonomous test track design are concluded. Thirdly, the legal questions that emerge with the appearance of driverless vehicles are investigated, especially concerning liability.

Despite scores of studies that have shown that tracking and ability grouping perpetuate the academic achievement gap that exists in the United States, the practice continues. The reason for this persistence is a confluence of educational, social, and political factors. As tracking will continue as practice for the foreseeable future, research must help to identify the best and worst of tracking practices so that its negative effects are minimized and positive effects maximized. Oakes (2005) has identified five common elements of tracking policies and practices: extent, pervasiveness, flexibility, mobility, and locus of control. Of these elements, it is my contention that mobility is most important. A tracking system that does not allow for movement among tracks is not only morally unjust, but also unfit educational practice in a democratic country based on a capitalist, free-market economic system that aims to reward individual effort and accomplishment. This study analyzes the effect that mobility has on the achievement gap and post-secondary outcomes by examining a group of high school graduates and how their curricular mobility in high school affected their post-secondary plans. Results showed that there is no relationship between overall track mobility in high school and post-secondary outcome. There was, however, a significant association between negative mobility in English and post-secondary outcomes and a moderate association between negative mobility in math and those outcomes.

The article highlights the role of educational and scientific diplomacy as important dimensions of public diplomacy and promotion of Russian "soft power". The author considers cultural enlightenment as one of the semantic platforms for increasing the productivity of the internal and external cultural policy of the state; as one of the examples of building up the potential of the Russian "soft power" in the positioned "focus" of analysis, the experience of the staff of the Taganrog (Pedagogical) Institute named after A.P. Chekhov (branch) of the Rostov State University of Economics (RSUE) in the context of active development and enrichment of the educational content of educational and scientific diplomacy in the framework of a wide range of international cooperation programs.

Track participants engaged in rich discussions about
"internationalization" in college and university curricula. We began
by considering contending definitions of central concepts and
educational objectives associated with internationalization.
Participants discussed different possible avenues of
internationalization, including the development of new classes, an
infusion of subjects linked to global affairs in existing classes
across the curriculum, cultural programming, and the creation of new
interdisciplinary classes. We also addressed study abroad programs,
language and cross-cultural training, and partnerships and
exchanges.

This article examines the concrete travel work that enables the global transport of Fast-Track Surgery (FTS), a set of evidence-based, standardized protocols and guide-lines for perioperative recovery. Having ethnographically followed FTS training for medical staff from provincial hospitals in China's Gansu province at a local hospital in Denmark, I show how FTS is made transportable through interactions between Chinese and Danish healthcare professionals in a series of workshops, meetings and educational activities. I argue that the transportability of a health-promoting infrastructure like FTS is neither a matter of technology transfer nor of evidence as such. Rather, it requires a specific kind of travel work in the form of traveling comparisons as a constant two- way dynamic between hospital settings in Denmark and China ; This article examines the concrete travel work that enables the global transport of Fast-Track Surgery (FTS), a set of evidence-based, standardized protocols and guidelines for perioperative recovery. Having ethnographically followed FTS training for medical staff from provincial hospitals in China's Gansu province at a local hospital in Denmark, I show how FTS is made transportable through interactions between Chinese and Danish healthcare professionals in a series of workshops, meetings and educational activities. I argue that the transportability of a health-promoting infrastructure like FTS is neither a matter of technology transfer nor of evidence as such. Rather, it requires a specific kind of travel work in the form of traveling comparisons as a constant two-way dynamic between hospital settings in Denmark and China.

Grievances, disputes and education rights / Neville Harris -- Dispute resolution in education : roles and models / Neville Harris -- On the right track? : the resolution of special educational needs disputes in England / Neville Harris with Emily Smith -- Resolving additional support needs disputes in Scotland : contesting professionalism and rights / Sheila Riddell and Elisabet Weedon -- Rights and interests in the balance : special education and disputes in the Netherlands / Paul Zoontjens -- Where the buck stops : special education and dispute resolution in the United States / Charles J. Russo and Allan G. Osborne, Jr -- Resolving disputes about special educational needs : cross-border comparisons and reflections / Sheila Riddell and Neville Harris

Since the mid-20th century many OECD countries have discarded their previous selective schools systems, in which students early on were separated between academic and vocational tracks, in favor of more comprehensive schools. The effects of these reforms have generally been difficult to evaluate and their consequences for students' educational and labor market outcomes remain disputed. This paper evaluates the effects of the introduction of a more comprehensive upper secondary school system in Sweden in the 1990s. The reform reduced the differences between the academic and vocational educational tracks through prolonging and substantially increasing the academic content of all vocational tracks. The effects of this policy change are identified by exploiting a six year pilot scheme, which preceded the actual reform in some municipalities. The results show that the prolongation of the vocational tracks brought about an increased probability of dropping out among low performing students. Though one important motive behind the policy change was to enable all upper secondary school graduates to pursue a university degree, I find no effects on university enrolment or graduation. There are some indications, however, that attending the longer and more academic vocational track may have led to increased earnings in the long run.

This paper explores how the three concepts of vision, metaphor, and fantasy serve educational research for a better understanding of teachers' minds regarding educational issues. Drawing upon data based on a review of the literature, the following has been found: a semantic comparison showed that the concepts were similar in their abilities to create visual images and function as communication media, but differed in origin, time orientation, reality reflection, activity orientation, and consensus creation. Empirical findings demonstrated the importance of question formulation, the researcher's position, and the scope of the study. In conclusion, the paper proposes how the different concepts might help in designing improved research and better educational usage of the concepts.

AbstractDespite long‐standing knowledge about child welfare clients' educational disadvantage, we know less about the individuals' progress through the educational system. Based on Norwegian data, this study examined educational transitions following compulsory school and the first 3 years of upper secondary school, which correspond approximately to the transition following middle school/junior high school to the first years of high school in the USA. It is argued that in examining educational success in the child welfare population it is necessary to analyse whether child welfare clients follow the academic or vocational track. In addition, the degree to which educational transitions are related to gender, school performance and parental education was examined. Child welfare clients' educational transitions were compared with those of a comparison sample from the general population. The analyses show that after completing compulsory school, child welfare clients most often begin in the vocational track and that they often drop out of school. This tendency is largely related to low school performance and low parental education. In addition, child welfare clients' successful transitions are somewhat lower in the vocational than in the academic track and decrease during upper secondary school.

Die politische Soziologie, insbesondere die Wahl- und Einstellungsforschung, hat seit ihren Anfängen immer wieder einen Zusammenhang zwischen Bildung, demokratischem Verhalten und Einstellungen nachgewiesen. Auf zwei Fragen hat sie bisher jedoch erst unvollständige Antworten geben können: Handelt es sich bei diesen Ergebnissen um die Folgen von Selektions- oder von Sozialisationsprozessen? Sind diese Ergebnisse auf die ehemaligen Ostblockstaaten übertragbar? Mittels Daten einer in Brandenburg durchgeführten Längsschnittuntersuchung mit Jugendlichen in verschiedenen (Aus-)Bildungsgängen werden diese Fragen untersucht. Die Ergebnisse stützen die Sozialisationsthese und weisen zum Teil unterschiedliche Einstellungsentwicklungen in Abhängigkeit vom Bildungsweg auf. Die Einstellungsdifferenzen entlang der Bildungsdimension sind jedoch geringer als aus 'westlichen' Untersuchungen bekannt. (DIPF/Orig.) ; Political Sociology, particularly electoral and opinion research, found since its very beginning always a close relation between educational achievement and democratic participation and democratic attitudes. However, two questions are still looking for a satisfying answer: Are these findings caused by processes of selection or of socialization? Are these findings transferable to the former states of the eastern bloc? Answers on these questions shall be approached by means of data stemming from a longitudinal study conducted with adolescents in different educational tracks in Brandenburg. The findings show evidence for an influence of socializational processes rather than a selection effect. The differences in attitudes and behavior along the dimension of education, however, show a lower degree than known from "western" studies. (DIPF/Orig.)

AbstractThe socially inclusive educational expansion during the last few decades in Germany diluted the previous "elite" status of the Gymnasium and its certificate, the Abitur. In the absence of explicit "elite" institutions, unlike the UK, the USA or France, the question remains how social privilege is intergenerationally transferred in times of educational expansion? Several studies on this topic focused on distinction either through horizontal educational differentiation or via distinctive leisure activities. Building on Bourdieu's theory of distinction and Lareau's study on child-rearing practices, we argue that it is the set of different strategies of distinction that serves as a mechanism to reproduce privilege. Hence, we ask the question how parents' and grandparents' educational background influences the probability of applying a whole set of distinctive strategies. To test our assumptions, we use data from the youth questionnaire of the German Socio-Economic panel and analyse the effect of educational background on the application of distinctive educational strategies and distinctive leisure practices and the combination of both domains. The results indicate three main findings: first, having parents with an academic education increases the probability of applying any of the distinctive strategies under consideration. Second, having academically educated grandparents increases the probability of combining distinctive strategies within one domain. Third, the data do not support the assumption that the combination of curricular and leisure practices is particularly socially stratified.

While existing research has found negative birth order effects on competences and educational attainment in various Western countries with different educational systems, it is unclear whether these findings also hold in families with migration background. We argue that in migrant families where children were born in the host country, birth order effects on secondary school track placement should be weak or even reversed. In these families, parents' host country-specific resources and knowledge of the education system are likely to be comparatively low. Consequently, older siblings who were born and educated in the host country can be an important source of information and support on educational matters for their younger siblings. Moreover, parental knowledge of the education system should increase with the educational career of each of their children. Family fixed-effects models based on representative data from the German Microcensus show negative birth order effects on secondary school track placement for native, first-generation migrant, and interethnic siblings, but not for second-generation migrant siblings. The empirical results indicate that negative birth order effects are not necessarily universal, but that children may even benefit from having older siblings under certain conditions.

This paper explores the process of transnational institutional matching between elite institutions in Singapore and Great Britain, and the role of state-sponsored scholarships in enabling this process as political and administrative elites are selected and groomed. Using data gathered from in-depth interviews conducted with Singaporean undergraduates study- ing at Oxbridge and a dataset of the institutional origins of 580 Singap- orean government scholars, the analysis illustrates how students are being matched from two Singaporean junior colleges to Oxbridge and back to the higher strata of the Singaporean Public Service. We show that the educational trajectories of these government scholars need to be addressed in relation to the informational capital acquired in specific elite schools as well as the governing roles these individuals are meant to obtain within the state upon graduation.

The sixth annual Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) was held February 6–8, 2009, in Baltimore, Maryland, with nearly 300 registrants. The conference uses the working-group model, permitting in-depth discussion and debate amongst colleagues on research dealing with the scholarship of teaching and learning. In addition to the 11 working groups there were workshops on various topics. Michael Brintnall, APSA executive director, and Kimberly A. Mealy, APSA director of Educational, Professional and Minority Initiatives, offered welcoming remarks. John Jeffries, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was the opening speaker, and APSA president Peter Katzenstein, Cornell University, spoke at the opening reception. Joseph A. Kahne, the Abbie Valley Professor of Education, dean of the School of Education, and director of the Civic Engagement Research Group at Mills College, delivered the keynote address titled "Teaching, Digital Media, and Civic Engagement: Evidence and Strategies." The closing program featured a short presentation from the chair of the Programming Committee, Russell Mayer. It is our hope that the ideas generated and shared at the TLC will help to foster debate, research, and pedagogical innovations within the discipline.