40 years of library and information studies education in Wales

Tedd, L.A. (2005). 40 years of library and information studies education in Wales. Education for Information, 23(1/2), 1-8.

The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region

Tedd, L.A. (2003). The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region. Journal of Information Science, 29(1), 79-86.

Theme and variations: Christianity and regional landscapes in early medieval Ireland

This thesis explores the impact of Christianity on the landscape in Ireland from the conversion period to the coming of the Anglo-Normans. The premise is that ecclesiastical and secular settlement formed a cohesive whole which characterised the societal organisation of early medieval Ireland. The matter of the thesis is to isolate some of the agents of cohesion to see was this homogenous or did it vary in different areas. One of these agents was the ownership of land and the thesis undertakes to identify ecclesiastical landholding and examine the manner of settlement on it. A corollary is to explore the contribution of the genealogical link between kin-group, founding saint and territory to the construction of local identities. This necessitated a narrow focus; thus small study areas were chosen, which approximated to early medieval kingdoms in North Louth, Rathdown, Co Dublin and Ross, Co Cork. A multidisciplinary approach was taken using both archaeological and documentary evidence. The thesis found ecclesiastical sites were at the same density through the study areas, but there were considerable regional variations in related secular settlement. Ecclesiastical estates were identified in the three study areas and common settlement patterns were found in two of them. Settlement in all areas indicated the foundation of minor churches by local groups. Ecclesiastical sites were found to be integral to kin-group identity and status, but the manner in which each group negotiated this, was very different. Finally the thesis examined material evidence for a change from diffused to concentrated power in the political organisation of Irish society, a process entwined with developments of the Viking Age. This centralisation of power and associated re-formation of identity was still often mediated through the ecclesiastical sphere but the thesis demonstrates diversity in the materialising of the mediation.

Beyond signaling and human capital: Education and the revelation of ability

We provide evidence that college graduation plays a direct role in revealing ability to the labor market. Using the NLSY79, our results suggest that ability is observed nearly perfectly for college graduates, but is revealed to the labor market more gradually for high school graduates. Consequently, from the beginning of their careers, college graduates are paid in accordance with their own ability, while the wages of high school graduates are initially unrelated to their own ability. This view of ability revelation in the labor market has considerable power in explaining racial differences in wages, education, and returns to ability.

Research Question, Study Design and Continuous Research Education and Training Exercises (CREATE) Program.

The clinical research project starts with identifying the optimal research question, one that is ethical, impactful, feasible, scientifically sound, novel, relevant, and interesting. The project continues with the design of the study to answer the research question. Such design should be consistent with ethical and methodological principles, and make optimal use of resources in order to have the best chances of identifying a meaningful answer to the research question. Physicians and other healthcare providers are optimally positioned to identify meaningful research questions the answer to which could make significant impact on healthcare delivery. The typical medical education curriculum, however, lacks solid training in clinical research. We propose CREATE (Continuous Research Education And Training Exercises) as a peer- and group-based, interactive, analytical, customized, and accrediting program with didactic, training, mentoring, administrative, and professional support to enhance clinical research knowledge and skills among healthcare professionals, promote the generation of original research projects, increase the chances of their successful completion and potential for meaningful impact. The key features of the program are successive intra- and inter-group discussions and confrontational thematic challenges among participating peers aimed at capitalizing on the groups' collective knowledge, experience and skills, and combined intellectual processing capabilities to optimize choice of research project elements and stakeholder decision-making.

Ethnomathematical research and drama in education techniques: developing a dialogue in a geometry class of 10th grade students

Ethnomathematical research, together with digital technologies (WebQuest) and Drama-in- Education (DiE) techniques, can create a fruitful learning environment in a mathematics classroom—a hybrid/third space—enabling increased student participation and higher levels of cognitive engagement. This article examines how ethnomathematical ideas processed within the experiential environment established by the Drama-in-Education techniques challenged students‘ conceptions of the nature of mathematics, the ways in which students engaged with mathematics learning using mind and body, and the ̳dialogue‘ that was developed between the Discourse situated in a particular practice and the classroom Discourse of mathematics teaching. The analysis focuses on an interdisciplinary project based on an ethnomathematical study of a designing tradition carried out by the researchers themselves, involving a search for informal mathematics and the connections with context and culture; 10th grade students in a public school in Athens were introduced to the mathematics content via an original WebQuest based on this previous ethnomathematical study; Geometry content was further introduced and mediated using the Drama-in-Education (DiE) techniques. Students contributed in an unfolding dialogue between formal and informal knowledge, renegotiating both mathematical concepts and their perception of mathematics as a discipline.

Long-term and regional variability of phytoplankton biomass in the Northeast Atlantic (1960-1995)

Long-term regional changes in phytoplankton biomass in the Northeast Atlantic and North Sea are investigated using data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey. During the last decade there have been large changes in the long-term variation in phytoplankton biomass in the Northeast Atlantic and North Sea. Most regions, particularly in the North Sea, have shown a considerable increase in phytoplankton biomass while the opposite pattern was seen in the northern oceanic region of the Northeast Atlantic. These different spatial responses show similar patterns of change to the decadal variability in sea surface temperature influenced by the North Atlantic Oscillation index. Two rare oceanographic events and their relationship to the interannual changes in phytoplankton biomass are discussed. The results highlight the importance of maintaining long-term biological monitoring programmes to assess the biological responses to slow oceanic/atmospheric processes and to rare or episodic physical events.

Ranking of length-class seasonal and regional effects on dietary compositions of the co-occurring Pagrus auratus (Sparidae) and Pseudocaranx georgianus (Carangidae)

Using an effective combination of multivariate testing and ordination analyses, this study compares the extents to which the diets of two co-occurring fish species (Pagrus auratus and Pseudocaranx georgianus) are related to body size (length class), season and region and the rank order importance of those effects. Thus, volumetric dietary compositions were determined for these species on the lower west coast of Australia, where both are abundant, and for P. auratus from the mid west coast and P. georgianus from the south coast. The diet of P. auratus on the lower west coast was strongly related to body size and slightly less to season. With increasing body size, its diet shifted from predominantly ophiuroids to larger prey, such as brachyuran crabs, teleosts, echinoids and ultimately asteroids, probably reflecting a shift from foraging over soft sediments to areas over and around reefs. Seasonal changes on the lower west coast were restricted mainly to small P. auratus, while larger fish underwent seasonal changes further north. Analyses using a common size range of medium to larger P. auratus demonstrated that dietary composition differed more between regions than seasons. The relationships between diet and length class of P. georgianus on both the lower west and south coasts were less pronounced than for P. auratus and seasonal changes were restricted to the south coast, where amphipod consumption increased markedly in summer. The diet of P. georgianus was related far more to region than length class and season, with more small teleosts, small crabs, carideans and littorinids and less amphipods, isopods and small bivalves being ingested on the lower west than south coasts. Although crabs and teleosts were important typifying prey of P. auratus and P. georgianus, when co-occurring, the former predator tended to ingest greater volumes of larger and often less mobile prey. This reflects differences in dentition, jaw morphology and feeding behaviour and reduces the potential for competition for food resources. The results imply that P. auratus and P. georgianus are opportunistic feeders and that the effects of length class, season and region on dietary composition and their rank orders can vary markedly between species and for length class and season between regions for the same species.

Professional Educational Psychology and Community Relations Education in Northern Ireland.

This article provides an account of practice-based research of, at least, one-star quality in terms of its contribution to both theory and practice. Aimed at practitioner (as opposed to academic) psychologists, the article addresses a dimension of the practitioner role that has remained silent in the literature. The article makes creative and original connections between school effectiveness, school improvement and education in a divided society. Post 11th September, the article was described as being highly original, significant and relevant to all practising educational psychologists. Concrete evidence for this is gained from, eg: hits on the online electronic version (2002-2003 Annual Report of the Association of Educational Psychologists), citations in reviews of research, and author invitations to present his work at UK and international practitioner psychology conferences. The article is published in the premier journal reporting on quality applied educational research and practice within the United Kingdom and beyond.