The emergence of competitors to the Science Citation Index and the Web of Science

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Organic Livestock: Animal Health, Welfare and Husbandry Assessment of existing knowledge and production of an advisory resource compendium(OF0162)

1. A compendium of animal health and welfare information relevant to organic livestock production has been produced by the Organic Livestock Research Group (OLRG), Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VEERU), Department of Agriculture, the University of Reading. The compendium is supported by full scientific abstracts taken from the CAB International information database. 2. The objective of the project was to: - Create a database and archive of information on animal health, welfare and husbandry relevant to livestock production under organic standards; - Assess the database and its relevance to organic livestock production; - Develop a series of compendia of advisory resource materials on CD-ROM and in printed format, in consultation with relevant sector bodies, the veterinary profession and organic livestock producers. 3. The compendium has been produced in a CD ROM format and is internet accessible (http://www.organic-vet.reading.ac.uk/). The compendium has been reviewed by specialist veterinarians, advisors and farmers. For copyright purposes, the internet accessible version has been produced without scientific abstracts 4. The aim of the compendia is to serve as a resource material for advisors, inspectors and veterinarians who work with organic or converting farmers in the UK. It is also envisaged that the compendia could be used as a training tool for advisors and veterinarians learning about the issues related to general and specific animal health and welfare aspects of organic livestock production. In addition, the material will provide a useful resource material for the sector bodies and policymakers in the development of organic livestock production standards and regulations. 5. Each compendium is divided into four sub-compendia: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs and Poultry. Each is further divided into two sections. An introductory section, Health and Welfare, outlines general health and welfare issues related to the specific organic production system. Emphasis is placed on the requirements of organic standards in the approach to health and welfare problems. A second section, accessible via the Disease Index, deals in detail with the specific conditions affecting the species in question. Each disease is indexed alphabetically, and by the veterinary and common terms normally applied. 6. The Disease Section describes a range of specific condition is divided further into sub-sections on causes, symptoms, treatment, control, prevention, welfare implications, good practice based on current knowledge and guidelines for the conversion period. The poultry compendium does not contain a sub-section on the conversion period as there is little technical information available to support this. 7. In total, the compendium covers 45 cattle, 44 sheep, 32 poultry and 27 pig diseases and conditions. 8. Each section is supported throughout by references to scientific literature and other publications. These references can be accessed directly from the text by using text links to scientific abstracts, scanned-in advisory materials and reference or reading lists. 9. The compendium has Help and Search facilities. 10. At the time of publication. the compendium contains over 1700 scientific references and more than 50 full advisory documents. It is intended that this particular feature of the compendia will prove useful when in-depth information is sought, or the compendia are used as a training tool. 11. It should be emphasised that the compendium is not intended as a diagnostic or self-help tool for animal health management on the farm. For this reason, diagnostics are not covered in any depth, and the treatment sections usually only suggest potential treatment categories and discuss the urgency and need for treatment from an animal welfare perspective. The authors wish it to be known that diagnosis should always be carried out by a veterinary surgeon, in response to problems seen on a farm. 12. The compendium have been reviewed by members of the advisory team at the Organic Advisory Service on Elm Farm Research Centre in Berkshire, by specialist veterinarians and by organic farmers. 13. In light of the rapid developments within organic farming and research, it is proposed that the information contained within the compendium will require frequent updating, probably on an annual basis. A proposal for the maintenance and expansion of the compendium has been included within the final proposal. The main component of this proposal is the development of a “stakeholder club” of interested parties, whose function would be to raise financial support, to supply technical information and to provide a practical link to the organic farming, advisory and administrative sectors

Disciplined: Using educational studies to analyse 'Humanities Computing'

Humanities Computing is an emergent field. The activities described as 'Humanities Computing' continue to expand in number and sophistication, yet no concrete definition of the field exists, and there are few academic departments that specialize in this area. Most introspection regarding the role, meaning, and focus of "Humanities Computing" has come from a practical and pragmatic perspective from scholars and educators within the field itself. This article provides an alternative, externalized, viewpoint of the focus of Humanities Computing, by analysing the discipline through its community, research, curriculum, teaching programmes, and the message they deliver, either consciously or unconsciously, about the scope of the discipline. It engages with Educational Theory to provide a means to analyse, measure, and define the field, and focuses specifically on the ACH/ALLC 2005 Conference to identify and analyse those who are involved with the humanities computing community. © 2006 Oxford University Press

Arts and Humanities Literature: Bibliometric Characteristics of Contributions by Turkish Authors

Scholarly communication in arts and humanities differs from that in the sciences. Arts and humanities scholars rely primarily on monographs as amedium of publication whereas scientists consider articles that appear in scholarly journals as the single most important publication outlet. The number of journal citation studies in arts and humanities is therefore limited. In this article, we investigate the bibliometric characteristics of 507 arts and humanities journal articles written by authors affiliated with Turkish institutions and indexed in the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) between the years 1975–2003. Journal articles constituted more than 60% of all publications. One third of all contributions were published during the last 4 years (1999–2003) and appeared in 16 different journals. An overwhelming majority of contributions (91%) were written in English, and 83% of them had single authorship. Researchers based at Turkish universities produced 90% of all publications. Two thirds of references in publications were to monographs. The median age of all references was 12 years. Eighty percent of publications authored by Turkish arts and humanities scholars were not cited at all while the remaining 20% (or 99 publications) were cited 304 times (anaverage of three citations per publication). Self-citation ratio was 31%. Two thirds of the cited publications were cited for the first time within 2 years of their publications

Bibliometric studies on single journals: a review

This paper covers a total of 82 bibliometric studies on single journals (62 studies cover unique titles) published between 1998 and 2008 grouped into the following fields; Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (12 items); Medical and Health Sciences (19 items); Sciences and Technology (30 items) and Library and Information Sciences (21 items). Under each field the studies are described in accordance to their geographical location in the following order, United Kingdom, United States and Americana, Europe, Asia (India, Africa and Malaysia). For each study, elements described are (a) the journal’s publication characteristics and indexation information; (b) the objectives; (c) the sampling and bibliometric measures used; and (d) the results observed. A list of journal titles studied is appended. The results show that (a)bibliometric studies cover journals in various fields; (b) there are several revisits of some journals which are considered important; (c) Asian and African contributions is high (41.4 of total studies; 43.5 covering unique titles), United States (30.4 of total; 31.0 on unique titles), Europe (18.2 of total and 14.5 on unique titles) and the United Kingdom (10 of total and 11 on unique titles); (d) a high number of bibliometrists are Indians and as such coverage of Indian journals is high (28 of total studies; 30.6 of unique titles); and (e) the quality of the journals and their importance either nationally or internationally are inferred from their indexation status

Integrated assessment : new assessment methods literature review

The assessment of students in higher education performs a number of functions, some of which may not always be compatible with each other. Traditionally, the role of the assessor has involved determining the level of competence displayed in undertaking the task, and ideally, offering feedback on future learning needs (Rowntree, 1987). Assessment also provides grading for students’ work, allowing comparison of performance across a class, and across the curriculum for individual students. The subsequent gaining of a degree or professional qualification depends on students successfully completing a set of specified assessment tasks across the prescribed curriculum. As such, there may be stakeholders beyond the higher education institution, such as employers, regulatory bodies or clients, who believe the assessment process as being akin to certification or professional gatekeeping (Younes,1998). In professional courses such as social work, passing certain assessment tasks may be associated with notions such as fitness to practice and eligibility for professional registration as a social worker with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or similar bodies in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and beyond the United Kingdom. In terms of gatekeeping, assessment tasks may not only restrict who gains certification on exiting an educational programme, but also who is admitted in the first place. For example, requirements by registration authorities that students admitted to social work programmes have achieved specified levels of literacy and numeracy will require appropriate assessment tasks to determine equivalence for those entrants who have not achieved formal qualifications in these areas. Entry point assessments may also be used to determine whether credit should be granted on the basis of prior learning or experience (Slater, 2000) or to identify areas in which additional training may be required (Shera, 2001) In addition to gatekeeping, assessment clearly has a vital role to play in the ongoing development of learning and teaching strategies. It can be crucial in determining what, why and how students learn (Brown, Bull and Pendlebury, 1997) and there is increasing recognition of the necessity to align learning and assessment tasks, so that learning and assessment become aligned rather than being somewhat independent of each other (Biggs, 2003). Furthermore, in an era when evaluation of teaching is often reduced to student satisfaction surveys, critical reflection on work submitted for assessment can serve as an alternative method of evaluating the success of teaching. The nature of assessment has changed considerably since the 1970s, and is ongoing. The key changes have included moves from written examinations to coursework assignments and more emphasis on student participation in assessment (self and peer assessments), processes rather than products, and on competencies rather than content (Brown et al., 1997). Even the more traditional forms of assessment such as essays and examinations have undergone considerable innovations. Yet, in practice these seemingly radical changes may be more a wish list than a statement of fact. In actuality, some new forms of assessment, such as self and peer assessment may simply have been added onto rather than replaced more traditional modes of assessment (Cree, 2000). Changes to assessment in social work tend to reflect changes in higher education more widely such as the emergence of competency based and modular approaches to learning, as well more proceduralised assessment processes necessary to cope with higher numbers of students (Cree, 2000). There is considerable divergence of opinion amongst the social work education community in the United Kingdom as to whether such changes actually benefit social work students and their learning (eg Clark, 1997; Ford and Hayes, 1996; O’Hagan, 1997; Shardlow and Doel, 1996). There have also been concerns expressed as to whether some new forms of assessment are actually capable of achieving the learning they claim to facilitate Boud, 1999; Entwistle, 1990; Taylor, 1993). This report was commissioned by the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE) as a resource on assessment for the development of the new social work degree in Scotland and provides an overview of the current literature on assessment methods being utilised in social work education both in the United Kingdom and beyond. This report begins by reviewing the various methods of assessment in social work education which were found in the literature. We then go on to explore the developing literature on the involvement of persons other than social work academics, such as students and service users, in the assessment process. Finally, we consider the importance of developing and assessment strategy which might incorporate these various different forms of assessmen

The Use of Academic Library Resources and Services by Undergraduate in Ibadan North Local Government of Nigeria

Libraries provide resources for knowledge acquisition, recreation, personal interests and inter-personal relationships for all categories of users. It enables the individual to obtain spiritual, inspirational, and recreational activities through reading, and therefore the opportunity of interacting with the society’s wealth and accumulated knowledge. This study examined the undergraduate students’ use of University library services and resources. It was affirmed the undergraduate utilized the University Libraries as learning centre. This was shown by the massive turn out to patronize the library services and resources weekly

Methodological Innovation in Practice-Based Design Doctorates

This article presents a selective review of recent design PhDs that identify and analyse the methodological innovation that is occurring in the field, in order to inform future provision of research training. Six recently completed design PhDs are used to highlight possible philosophical and practical models that can be adopted by future PhD students in design. Four characteristics were found in design PhD methodology: innovations in the format and structure of the thesis, a pick-and-mix approach to research design, situating practice in the inquiry, and the validation of visual analysis. The article concludes by offering suggestions on how research training can be improved. By being aware of recent methodological innovations in the field, design educators will be better informed when developing resources for future design doctoral candidates and assisting supervision teams in developing a more informed and flexible approach to practice-based research

Questionnaire-based pronunciation studies: Italian, Spanish and polish students’ views on their English pronunciation

Rather than casting new light on teaching pronunciation, the outcome of this study is consistent with the findings of other research on foreign students’ choice of preferred pronunciation model, which is undeniably native rather than foreign-accented