Similarity of Semantic Relations

There are at least two kinds of similarity. Relational similarity is correspondence between relations, in contrast with attributional similarity, which is correspondence between attributes. When two words have a high degree of attributional similarity, we call them synonyms. When two pairs of words have a high degree of relational similarity, we say that their relations are analogous. For example, the word pair mason:stone is analogous to the pair carpenter:wood. This paper introduces Latent Relational Analysis (LRA), a method for measuring relational similarity. LRA has potential applications in many areas, including information extraction, word sense disambiguation, and information retrieval. Recently the Vector Space Model (VSM) of information retrieval has been adapted to measuring relational similarity, achieving a score of 47% on a collection of 374 college-level multiple-choice word analogy questions. In the VSM approach, the relation between a pair of words is characterized by a vector of frequencies of predefined patterns in a large corpus. LRA extends the VSM approach in three ways: (1) the patterns are derived automatically from the corpus, (2) the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is used to smooth the frequency data, and (3) automatically generated synonyms are used to explore variations of the word pairs. LRA achieves 56% on the 374 analogy questions, statistically equivalent to the average human score of 57%. On the related problem of classifying semantic relations, LRA achieves similar gains over the VSM

Physiotherapy Students’ and Practice Educators’ Experiences of Using Placements Passports: A Tool to Enhance Collaboration on Placement

Integral to physiotherapy students’ study are their practice placements. Placements form a mandatory part of students’ programmes of study. Practice learning is seen as an essential component of the curricula and as such is a key element of the students’ learning and development. The UK health service, which continues to provide the majority of practice learning opportunities for healthcare students, is experiencing unprecedented demand on services. Practice educators are reporting increasing pressure to maintain service provision whilst trying to support students in the practice setting. To maximise learning on placement, the placement passport was developed. This aims to support a more collaborative approach to the student’s learning in practice, by promoting a partnership between the practice educator and the student, and by encouraging and enabling the students to develop their skills of self-evaluation and self-directed learning, but also giving the practice educator the opportunity to try to tailor the experience to the student’s needs and wants. This study aims to explore students’ and practice educators’ experiences of using a placement passport in physiotherapy education. Five students and four practice educators attended one-off focus groups to explore their experiences. Findings suggested that the passport is a tool to support collaborative approaches to students’ learning, helping students and practice educators to bridge the gap between academia and the reality of practice. It also provided both with the opportunity to begin early dialogue around the students’ and practice educators’ expectations of the practice placement while acknowledging prior learning and development.                                                                                                                                 &nbsp

Supporting Newly Qualified Diagnostic Radiographers: Are We Getting It Right?

The NHS is facing a rising demand in services and consequently, newly qualified practitioners are required to possess a much wider set of skills than ever before. In diagnostic radiography, this pressure is underpinned by the expanding role that diagnostic imaging now plays in many patient pathways. Despite the need for structured support for graduates which has been acknowledged by a range of studies and the introduction of the Preceptorship Framework for Newly Registered Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals (Department of Health, (DoH), 2010) the uptake in radiography is limited. A longitudinal study employed an interpretive phenomenological methodology collating data from nine participants during their first year as band five radiographers. Each participant was interviewed at three, six and twelve months. Six main themes were identified during a wider PhD study Being and Becoming a Diagnostic Radiographer (Harvey-Lloyd, 2018). This article explores one of the key sub themes ‘structured support’ which strongly featured in the three- and six-month interviews. Two of the nine participants received a structured support programme during their first 12 months of transition as newly qualified radiographers. These programmes focussed on the completion of tasks and were mechanistic in approach. This type of support ignores the process of transformation into the role of a diagnostic radiographer and fails to adequately support those from Generation Z. A model of preceptorship is proposed which combines skills and competence development, supporting transition and personal and professional development; thus, providing the newly qualified radiographers with a holistic range of support

Creativity - nature or nurture?

Is creativity to be found in our genes or developed by our engagement with our environment? The brain is a complex part of our body and it appears reluctant in giving up its secrets (1). However, some correlations between brain structure and creativity are being found

Creativity - should we encourage it?

That depends on where you live, how old you are and your perspective on life, the role of schools and the workplace. Ken Robinson has likened the school system as a production line preparing its children as a product ready to take their place in the industrial world (1). He has also highlighted in 2007 that many of the jobs our primary children are heading for have not been created yet (2). AN IBM study of 15,000 CEOs in 60 countries and 33 industries in 2010 found that creativity was highlighted as the most important leadership quality necessary to meet an increasingly complex and uncertain world (3)

Creativity - what is it?

Can we define creativity and how would we know we have seen it in the classroom? As a primary teacher turned senior lecturer, and therefore by default, academic, I am now involved in initial teacher training. I have recently been intrigued by the idea that creativity in the primary classroom could raise achievement and this blog is intended to record research findings, observations and personal reflections on this subject

CONTRACTS - RIGHT OF PROMISEE OF A CREDITOR-BENEFICIARY CONTRACT TO SUE IN EQUITY FOR EXONERATION

The defendant purchased a barber shop and beauty parlor business from the plaintiff; and as part of the contract, the defendant assumed an indebtedness owing to a third person by the plaintiff. In an action brought by the creditor against the present plaintiff and defendant, judgment was rendered against the plaintiff herein and the action was dismissed as to the defendant. In that action, the present plaintiff filed a cross-petition against the defendant in this case, to require her to perform her alleged oral agreement to assume outstanding obligations, and moved to transfer the cross-petition to equity. Trial on the cross-petition and answer was had in equity and decree in favor of the plaintiff was entered. From this the defendant appealed. Held, that by assuming the indebtedness, the buyer became the principal and the seller the surety, and that the seller could sue in equity to compel the buyer to pay the debt. Judgment affirmed. McKey Fansher Co v. Rowen, (Iowa, 1942) 5 N. W. (2d) 911

DEEDS - EFFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE WITH STATUTE REQUIRING GRANTOR TO SET FORTH IN DEED NAME UNDER WHICH HE DERIVED TITLE

In a suit between plaintiff and defendant Girola Bros., plaintiff obtained a judgment and levied upon certain property. Plaintiff purchased the land at an execution sale and recorded the sheriff\u27s deed conveying the property to him. Prior to the commencement of the action, defendant Girola Bros. had changed its name to Madalay, Inc., and under the latter name had conveyed the property, subsequently levied on by plaintiff, to defendant M. Girola, pending the action by plaintiff. This deed was recorded. It set forth Madalay, Inc., as grantor, but failed to set forth the name in which Madalay, Inc., derived title to the realty as required by section 1096 of the Civil Code of California. The plaintiff brought this action to quiet title to the land, claiming the prior conveyance to defendant M. Girola was void because it failed to comply with section 1096. The contention of the defendants was that a conveyance in disregard of the statute could be attacked only by a subsequent purchaser for value without notice of the change of name by the original owner. Held, because of noncompliance with the statute, the deed from Madalay, Inc., to M. Girola was inoperative to pass legal title; property remained in the grantor and was subject to plaintiff\u27s levy of execution, title passing to him by virtue of the sheriff\u27s sale and deed. Puccetti v. Girola, 20 Cal. (2d) 574, 128 P. (2d) 13 (1942)

The design and evaluation of Link: a CAL system designed to address psychology students' misconceptions about correlation

This thesis describes the design, development and evaluation of Link, a computerassisted learning program for correlation, which is targeted at psychology students in higher education. Computer technology is being increasingly used on statistics courses, suggesting that computer-assisted learning programs on statistical concepts will be increasingly used by students in higher education. To inform the design of Link, an empirical study was conducted to investigate students’ difficulties with correlation. It was found that psychology students held misconceptions relating to negative correlations, the strength of correlations and that they infer causality. The design of Link was also informed by research-based principles of learning, research and developments in computer-assisted learning and a review of computer-assisted learning programs that cover correlation. A formative evaluation study involving eighteen psychology students found that having used the program, students’ general understanding of correlation was significantly improved. Unlike previously existing computer-assisted learning programs that were reviewed, Link makes use of data from two authentic studies in psychology. In addition. Link provides learner activities specifically designed to address students’ misconceptions about correlation. A summative evaluation study of Link involving fifty psychology students was undertaken to assess the effect on students’ understanding of correlation. The findings of this evaluation provided further qualitative data on students’ misconceptions. Moreover, it was found that the use of Link significantly contributed to students’ general understanding of correlation

Feeling nature: naturism, camping, environment and the body in Britain, 1920-1960

This thesis considers the interaction of human beings with the natural environment. In particular, it addresses the ways that naturists and light-weight campers encountered, understood and reflected upon the spaces, places and environments around them in the period between 1920 and the late 1950s. In considering 'outdoor cultures' and drawing upon humanistic geography and recent literature concerning issues of embodiment, sensuality, and body culture, my research raises a number of important questions. These include the importance of citizenship and the ethos of outdoor recreation in the inter-war and immediate post-war period, debates about the embodied experience of naturists and campers and, in turn, the ways in which Nature was represented within their reflexive accounts. In working through issues of sensuality, self, body culture and morality, the thesis contributes to ongoing geographical debates concerning the body and embodiment; sensing the environment and outdoor cultures; and experiences of space and place and the mutual constitution of nature and society in inter-war European cultures. Drawing upon empirical analysis of archival and historical texts, and upon oral histories, photographs, art and poetry I consider embodied experience as a 'situated' practice in relation to the moral geographies of citizenship and idealism evident in the inter-war and immediate post war periods. The thesis demonstrates that human experience is mediated, directed, and evaluated by a wealth of social, cultural and historical parameters and that naturists' and campers' experience shaped and was shaped by wider discourses of morality, health and self