Using social networking tools for teaching and learning: a perspective of University lecturers and students

The use of online social networking tools (SNTs) has become commonplace within higher education. In this paper a definition and a typology of educational affordance of social networking service (SNS) are presented. The paper also explores the educational affordances whilst examining how university lecturers and students use SNTs to support their educational activities. The data presented here were obtained through a survey in which 38 participants from three universities took part; two universities in Uganda and one in the United Kingdom. The results show that Facebook is the most popular tool with 75 % of participants having profiles. Whilst most participants perceived the educational significance of these tools, social affordances remain more pronounced compared to pedagogical and technological affordances. The limitations of this study have also been discussed.

Social interaction deficits and conversational inadequacy in Williams syndrome

Research on social communication skills in individuals with Williams syndrome has been inconclusive, with some arguing that these skills are a relative strength and others that they are a weakness. The aim of the present study was to investigate social interaction abilities in a group of children with WS, and to compare them to a group of children with specific language impairment and a group of typically developing children. Semi-structured conversations were conducted and 100-150 utterances were selected for analysis in terms of exchange structure, turn taking, information transfer and conversational inadequacy. The statistical analyses showed that the children with WS had difficulties with exchange structure and responding appropriately to the interlocutor's requests for information and clarification. They also had significant difficulties with interpreting meaning and providing enough information for the conversational partner. Despite similar language abilities with a group of children with specific language impairment, the children with WS had different social interaction skills, which suggests that they follow an atypical trajectory of development and their neurolinguistic profile does not directly support innate modularity. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social networks, migration, and care in Tanzania

This paper explores the impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on children and families in northern Tanzania using the concept of social resilience.1 The study is based on the findings of childfocused research with street children and children and families from HIV/AIDS-affected households. The paper illustrates the coping strategies that children and young people, and parents and caregivers adopt at the household level. In particular, it examines how the burden of care affects different generations of women and highlights their resilience, together with the importance of social networks and the fluidity of movement between rural and urban areas. The research suggests that migrating to urban areas to seek a living in the informal sector represents a survival strategy adopted by some children and young people orphaned by AIDS when their families and communities are unable or unwilling to support them. The paper concludes by exploring parents’, caregivers’, children’s, and young people’s views on the forms of social support that would promote their resilience and thereby help to mitigate the impacts of the epidemic at the household level.

Applying robust control theory to solve problems in bio-medical sciences: study of an apoptotic model

Biological models of an apoptotic process are studied using models describing a system of differential equations derived from reaction kinetics information. The mathematical model is re-formulated in a state-space robust control theory framework where parametric and dynamic uncertainty can be modelled to account for variations naturally occurring in biological processes. We propose to handle the nonlinearities using neural networks.

Corporate social responsibility, mining and sustainable development in Namibia: critical reflections through a relational lens

For its advocates, corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents a powerful tool through which business and particularly multinationals can play a more direct role in global sustainable development. For its critics, however, CSR rarely goes beyond business as usual, and is often a cover for business practices with negative implications for communities and the environment. This paper explores the relationship between CSR and sustainable development in the context of mining in Namibia. Drawing upon extant literatures on the geographies of responsibility, and referencing in-country empirical case-study research, a critical relational lens is applied to consider their interaction both historically and in the present.

Embodying and destabilising disability and childhood

Young people's bodies have been at the centre of much policy and media discourse of late, forming the focal point of moral panics about obesity, substance abuse, and anti-social behaviour, to name just a few. Political responses to these issues are often focused on finding 'pragmatic' solutions based on a normative understanding of child development. This book, instead, demonstrates the contested and differentiated nature of childhood and youth embodiment. It combines the critical analysis of imagined and disciplined youthful bodies with a focus on young people's lived and performed, embodied subjectivities. Contested Bodies of Childhood and Youth points towards ways of addressing the issues that affect young people's wellbeing without criminalising and stigmatising them. It presents cutting edge interdisciplinary research in an accessible style that seeks to bridge the divide between theory and practice in research.

Retrieval of effective ice crystal size in the infrared: sensitivity study and global measurements from TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder

The difference between cirrus emissivities at 8 and 11 μm is sensitive to the mean effective ice crystal size of the cirrus cloud, De. By using single scattering properties of ice crystals shaped as planar polycrystals, diameters of up to about 70 μm can be retrieved, instead of up to 45 μm assuming spheres or hexagonal columns. The method described in this article is used for a global determination of mean effective ice crystal sizes of cirrus clouds from TOVS satellite observations. A sensitivity study of the De retrieval to uncertainties in hypotheses on ice crystal shape, size distributions, and temperature profiles, as well as in vertical and horizontal cloud heterogeneities shows that uncertainties can be as large as 30%. However, the TOVS data set is one of few data sets which provides global and long-term coverage. Having analyzed the years 1987–1991, it was found that measured effective ice crystal diameters De are stable from year to year. For 1990 a global median De of 53.5 μm was determined. Averages distinguishing ocean/land, season, and latitude lie between 23 μm in winter over Northern Hemisphere midlatitude land and 64 μm in the tropics. In general, larger Des are found in regions with higher atmospheric water vapor and for cirrus with a smaller effective emissivity.

A study of students' metacognitive beliefs about foreign language study and their impact on learning

This article reports on an investigation into the language learning beliefs of students of French in England, aged 16 to 18. It focuses on qualitative data from two groups of learners (10 in total). While both groups had broadly similar levels of achievement in French in terns of examination success, they dffered greatly in the self-image they had of themselves as language learners, with one group displaying low levels of self-eficacy beliefs regarding the possibility of future success. The implica tions of such beliefs for students' levels of motivation and persistence are discussed, together with their possible causes. The article concludes by suggesting changes in classroom practice that might help students develop a more positive image of them selves as language learners.