Communiqué - Summary and Recommendations

The summary and recommendations are captured in the following communiqué, presented at the conclusion of the First International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives (ICADLA-1), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1st-3rd July 200

The use of visual aids in the teaching of junior high school mathematics

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1945. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Editorial Note: ICADLA 2

The overriding policy in editing these papers, as for the proceedings of ICADLA-1 in 2009, has been to retain as much as possible the original “voices” of the contributors, all of whom have presented and written in English although one knows that in Africa this is seldom the first language of most contributors

Can we detect contract cheating using existing assessment data? Applying crime prevention theory to an academic integrity issue

Objectives Building on what is known about the non-random nature of crime problems and the explanatory capacity of opportunity theories of crime, this study explores the utility of using existing university administrative data to detect unusual patterns of performance consistent with a student having engaged in contract cheating (paying a third-party to produce unsupervised work on their behalf). Methods Results from an Australian university were analysed (N = 3798 results, N = 1459 students). Performances on unsupervised and supervised assessment items were converted to percentages and percentage point differences analysed at the academic discipline-, unit-, and student-level, looking for non-random patterns of unusually large differences. Results Non-random, unusual patterns, consistent with contract cheating, were found at the academic discipline-, unit-, and student-level, with approximately 2.1% of students producing multiple unusual patterns. Conclusions These findings suggest it may be possible to use existing administrative data to identify assessment items that provide suitable opportunities for contract cheating. This approach could be used in conjunction with targeted problem-prevention strategies (based on situational crime prevention) to reduce the vulnerability of academic assessment items to contract cheating. This approach is worthy of additional research as it has the potential to help academic institutions around the world manage contract cheating; a problem that currently threatens the validity and integrity of tertiary qualifications

Glycomacromolecules: Addressing challenges in drug delivery and therapeutic development

Carbohydrate-based materials offer exciting opportunities for drug delivery. They present readily available, biocompatible components for the construction of macromolecular systems which can be loaded with cargo, and can enable targeting of a payload to particular cell types through carbohydrate recognition events established in biological systems. These systems can additionally be engineered to respond to environmental stimuli, enabling triggered release of payload, to encompass multiple modes of therapeutic action, or to simultaneously fulfil a secondary function such as enabling imaging of target tissue. Here, we will explore the use of glycomacromolecules to deliver therapeutic benefits to address key health challenges, and suggest future directions for development of next-generation systems

After the Rain – learning the lessons from flood recovery in Hull

The report shows that it is often not so much the floods themselves, but what comes afterwards, that people find so difficult to deal with. The research on which this report is based aimed to undertake a real-time longitudinal study to document and understand the everyday experiences of individuals following the floods of June 2007 in interaction with networks of actors and organisations, strategies of institutional support and investment in the built environment and infrastructure. It had the following objectives: - To identify and document key dimensions of the longer term experience of flood impact and flood recovery, including health, economic and social aspects. - To examine how resilience and vulnerability were manifest in the interaction between everyday strategies of adaptation during the flood recovery process, and modes of institutional support and the management of infrastructure and the built environment. -To explore to what extent the recovery process entailed the development of new forms of resilience and to identify the implications for developing local level resilience for flood recovery in the future. To develop an archive that will be accessible for future research into other aspects of flood recovery. The flooding which affected the city of Kingston-upon-Hull took place in June 2007. Over 110mm of rain fell during the biggest event, overwhelming the city‟s drainage system and resulting in widespread pluvial flooding. The floods affected over 8,600 households and one person was killed. Our research used in-depth, qualitative methods where 44 people kept weekly diaries and participated in interviews and group discussions over an 18-month period

When Overextended Surface Allocation Turns to Groundwater: a Q Methodology of Well Users in Oregon’s High Desert

As legal battles over surface water allocation in Klamath County, Oregon, USA have gained national attention, earning the name “Water Wars,” authorities have been increasingly turning to groundwater to compensate for water shortfalls. This case study aims to identify the nuanced perspectives of household groundwater well users who are affected by groundwater extraction. Using Q methodology, we uncover groundwater well users’ perceptions and to what extent they think water problems are dealt with fairly. We identify four water perspectives that differ in the degree to which respondents prioritize clean water accessibility, industry accountability, individual responsibility for water management, and trust in governments to manage water competently. This research contributes to the growing body of literature reshaping our understanding of human-water relations by exploring different water axiologies