Inequalities, Agency, and Well-being: Conceptual Linkages and Measurement Challenges in Development

development, inequality, gender, well-being, agency, capability, distribution, Sen

A Method to Unambiguously Determine the Parity of the Theta+ Pentaquark

With the recent discovery of the $\Theta(1540)$ pentaquark, the question of its parity is paramount since this will constrain the correct description of its internal structure. We show that the measurement of the spin singlet and triplet cross sections for the reaction $\vec{p}\vec{p} \to \Sigma^+ \Theta^+$ will unambiguously determine the parity of the $\Theta^+$.Comment: 3 page

Student perspectives: redesigning a research assignment handout through the academic literacies model

This study explores student responses to a research assignment handout that was redesigned in light of the recommendations from a 2010 Project Information Literacy report. Framed through Lea and Street’s Academic Literacies model, which positions information literacy as a social and situated practice rather than as a generic skill set or a process of socialisation, this study uses a descriptive survey method (annotations and a questionnaire) to demonstrate that the addition of disciplinary context helped to scaffold students’ critical engagement with scholarly conventions as well as with the broader information landscape. The study concludes by calling for renewed librarian engagement with alternative theoretical frameworks of literacy as well as the inclusion of student perspectives into studies of academic learning

The missing link: Towards an integrated health and information literacy research agenda

Information forms one of the main commonalities shared between definitions of health literacy. However, information literacy research, which centres how people become informed within a specific setting, has been almost completely sidelined from health literacy scholarship. This oversight risks limiting understanding of how health literacy is practised as well as narrowing research discourses. It also forms a missed opportunity as the recent sociocultural turn creates a valuable point of synergy between each field. This paper carries out a narrative literature review. to identify key areas where information literacy research could help to extend understanding about how people interact with information within health contexts. Centred on exploring theoretical and empirical work, the paper uses examples from literature to suggest that assumptions related to how information, models of information use, social dynamics of information environments, the outcomes of information activity and critical approaches to information practice are understood impact the scope and the reach of health literacy research and practice. The goal of this paper is to establish an initial, shared research agenda that places health and information literacy in dialogue rather than in isolation from each other

Negotiating change: Transition as a central concept for information literacy

Transition forms a dynamic concept that has been underexplored within information literacy research and practice. This article uses the grounded theory of mitigating risk, which was produced through doctoral research into the information literacy practices of language-learners, as a lens for a more detailed examination of transition and its role within information literacy. This framing demonstrates that information literacy mediates transition through supporting preparation, connection, situatedness and confidence within a new setting and facilitating a shift in identity. This article concludes by discussing the important role that time and temporality, resistance and reflexivity play within transition as well as outlining implications for information literacy instruction and future research into time, affect and materiality