The Space Between Shared Understandings of the Teaching of Grammar in English and French to Year 7 Learners: Student Teachers Working Collaboratively

In this article, we describe a small scale research project in which an English and a French student teacher on our Postgraduate Certificate of Education course work collaboratively to develop their personal knowledge and understanding of grammar and its role in teaching both subjects to 11 year old learners in an English comprehensive school. The project begins with university-based discussions about the role of grammar in language learning as expressed in a number of government documents and professional journals and continues in school with lesson observation by students of experienced teachers and of each other. Ways in which the cross-language focus beneficially influenced their classroom practice are suggested. The article concludes with the discussion of a number of issues about planning for language development and teaching about language across the curriculum which arise from the project and makes some modest proposals for a way forward within government policy which remains separatist

Horizontal distribution, feeding rates and prey selectivity of the littoral predator, Polyphemus pediculus

Littoral planktonic communities have rarely been included in food web dynamics and predator/prey behavior studies of planktonic communities of fresh water ecosystems. Polyphemus pediculus, a typically littoral predaceous cladoceran, is common in lakes and ponds throughout the northern temperate zone. The patchy distribution of Polyphemus in littoral surface waters necessitates the use of a stratified random sampling regime to estimate and monitor Polyphemus populations. The population in Mirror Lake, NH, increased exponentially after the first appearance of parthenogenetic juveniles in late April. An abrupt decline in the population coincided with the movement of small Micropterus dolomieui fry into littoral areas in early June. Gut analyses indicated the small fry were eating Polyphemus but as they grew their diet changed to larger insect larvae and the Polyphemus population increased. Reproduction was entirely parthenogenetic until males appeared in late summer. Females carried resting eggs until the population disappeared in November. Active aggregation behavior coincided with distinct horizontal movements toward shore over sunset, away from shore over sunrise. A comparison of diel movements of Polyphemus populations in two New Hampshire lakes supports the predator avoidance hypothesis. Diel feeding rates of Polyphemus were studied in four-hour intervals with a differential count method. A multichambered predation trap accommodated three simultaneous feeding experiments and a control. Three different Polyphemus densities were used during each feeding experiment to represent the natural density range. Polyphemus are diurnal feeders, more than 90% feeding occurring between sunrise and sunset. Polyphemus appear to select small, vulnerable prey (Polyarthra and individual Conochilus) over small prey with protective structures (Kellicottia). Feeding rates were highest for Vorticella that lived on Anabena colonies. Polyarthra and Conochilus constituted more than 70% of food ingested. At patch densities feeding rates decreased and evidence of cannibalism was observed indicating that Polyphemus\u27 aggregation behavior does not benefit feeding activities

Intent to aggress in forensic settings

This PhD examines the role of individual and environmental characteristics in the intent to aggress, resulting in the development of a model to understand the intent to aggress in forensic setting

Qualitative Research and Information Systems Design – Critical reflections from an eHealth Case study

Academic and business environments increasingly accept the utility of diverse qualitative research approaches for informing the design, implementation and evaluation of information systems. However, there are concerns that inherent techno-centrism within the IS discipline distorts criteria for choosing and adapting approaches and, significantly, works to marginalise the opportunities qualitative insights provide to open up human-centered dialogue on new ways of thinking and designing (Gasson 2003). This paper presents a qualitative research approach designed to facilitate critical reflection and sensitise researchers’ to implicit assumptions that technology will be the end-point of their activities and when judgments about criteria for successful designs are technologically and/or economically over-determined. The method endpoint is a conceptual framework constructed for the research domain which is the basis for translating sociological insights into implications for information systems and work practice in a public health service organisation

The Management of Innovation in Project Based Firms

Innovation is an important area of management theory, but there is a paucity of research on innovation in project based firms. Project based firms are simultaneously becoming a more vital and important organisational context, exemplifying many current managerial challenges. In this paper we research innovation in twenty project based firms. We identify three key areas of innovation from the theoretical literature and conduct empirical research, discovering (1) whether project based firms provide an organisational context supportive of innovation, (2) how project based firms address the question of innovation and slack resources, and finally (3) whether project based firms view innovation as universally desirable, or adopt a more cautious approach to developing and driving their innovation strategies. Our findings add to current theorising on innovation in organisations, expanding our knowledge of project based firms and innovation strategies

An interactive and user-centered computer system to predict physician’s disease judgments in discharge summaries

AbstractPurpose: This article describes a formative natural language processing (NLP) system that is grounded in user-centered design, simplification, and transparency of function. Methods: The NLP system was tasked to classify diseases within patient discharge summaries and is evaluated against clinician judgment during the 2008 i2b2 Shared Task competition. Text classification is performed by interactive, fully supervised learning using rule-based processes and support vector machines (SVMs). Results: The macro-averaged F-score for textual (t) and intuitive (i) classification were 0.614(t) and 0.629(i), while micro-averaged F-scores were recorded at 0.966(t) and 0.954(i) for the competition. These results were comparable to the top 10 performing systems. Discussion: The results of this study indicate that an interactive training method, de novo knowledge base with no external data sources, and simplified text mining processes can achieve a comparably high performance in classifying health-related texts. Further research is needed to determine if the user-centered advantages of a NLP system translate into real world benefits

Beyond the line: exploring the HRM responsibilities of line managers, project managers and the HRM department in four project-oriented companies in the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and the USA

The topic of what HRM (Human Resource Management) responsibilities are devolved from the HRM department to line managers has attracted much interest in recent years. We report findings from a study on the devolution of HRM practices in four POCs (Project-Oriented Companies) and argue that although HRM practices are carried out beyond the HRM department, they are also carried out beyond the line. While the literature on devolving HRM responsibilities to line management is burgeoning, the HRM responsibilities of managers beyond the line organization are neglected. We make two contributions to the literature. Firstly, our study reveals that some HRM practices are the domain of the project manager rather than either the line manager or the HRM department. The complex interplay of the roles of the HRM department, line management and project management creates challenges and pitfalls where people are managed across the boundaries of the permanent and temporary organization. We identify a potentially powerful role for the HRM department in both monitoring and guiding the different players from the line and project organizations, and in protecting the well-being of employees whose work traverses these organizational boundaries. Our second contribution is that we map the diversity of practices in different POCs for managing the interplay between the three main parties delivering HRM practices and offer project-orientation as a contextual indicator that contributes to diversity in HRM practices