Evaluating research - Peer review team assessment and journal-based bibliographic measures: New Zealand PBRF research output scores in 2006

This paper concerns the relationship between the assessment of the research of individual academics by peer or expert review teams with a variety of bibliometric schemes based on journal quality weights. Specifically, for a common group of economists from New Zealand departments of economics the relationship between Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) Research Output measures for those submitting new research portfolios in 2006 are compared with evaluations of journal based research over the 2000-2005 assessment period. This comparison identifies the journal weighting schemes that appear most similar to PBRF peer evaluations. The paper provides an indication of the ‘power or aggressiveness’ of PBRF evaluations in terms of the weighting given to quality. The implied views of PBRF peer review teams are also useful in assessing common assumptions made in evaluating journal based research

A Formal Context Representation Framework for Network-Enabled Cognition

Network-accessible resources are inherently contextual with respect to the specific situations (e.g., location and default assumptions) in which they are used. Therefore, the explicit conceptualization and representation of contexts is required to address a number of problems in Network- Enabled Cognition (NEC). We propose a context representation framework to address the computational specification of contexts. Our focus is on developing a formal model of context for the unambiguous and effective delivery of data and knowledge, in particular, for enabling forms of automated inference that address contextual differences between agents in a distributed network environment. We identify several components for the conceptualization of contexts within the context representation framework. These include jurisdictions (which can be used to interpret contextual data), semantic assumptions (which highlight the meaning of data), provenance information and inter-context relationships. Finally, we demonstrate the application of the context representation framework in a collaborative military coalition planning scenario. We show how the framework can be used to support the representation of plan-relevant contextual information

Instigating change in a globalised social environment : the impact of globalisation upon the promotion of vegetarianism in the United Kingdom

In this thesis I examine globalisation as an ongoing social change to understand how it is routinely reproduced by social actors. To do this I consider the impacts of globalisation in an existing social setting and use a conceptual framework from the sociological literature to interpret and explain the evidence. The empirical materials were gathered during an ethnographic case study of The Vegetarian Society - an interest group that actively promoted social change by presenting everyday individual food consumption in the manner of reflexive 'life politics'. I use the concepts of 'interpenetration', 'relativisation', 'detraditionalisation' and 'institutional reflexivity' to indicate that processes of globalisation were routinely reproduced as contexts and consequences of the organisation's motivated social activity. I define globalisation as a change evident in individual consciousness, social systems and in the reflexive relation between them and accordingly, the findings centre on three issues. The first is the use of global images and language in the promotional literature (instrumentally recontextualised to promote vegetarianism) and its relation to global consciousness. The second is the relations between The Vegetarian Society and other agents within globalised social systems (where negotiations to initiate change often required compromise and pragmatism) and the contribution to systemic reproduction. The third is The Vegetarian Society's changing role (as vegetarianism entered the 'mainstream`) where it was reflexively repositioning to continue achieving its aims in a 'post-traditional' (global) social order. The Vegetarian Society was enabled and constrained by these intersecting processes of globalisation as it continued to instigate change within globalised social structures (evident in changing opportunities and emerging dilemmas). In this case study, ongoing globalisation was produced and reproduced as an unintended consequence of a social actor's purposeful, localised activity

Studies on the fertility of Egyptian soils

1. "The Nature of Soil Deterioration in Egypt" by David S. Gracie, Mahfouz Rizk, Ahmed Moukhtar and Abdel Olamid I. Moustafa. Bull., No. 148 Technical and Scientific Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. (1954) . || 2. "An Analysis of the Factors Governing the Response to Manuring of Cotton in Egypt`' by David S. Gracie and Fahmy Khalil in collaboration with Hussein Enan. Bull., No. 152 Technical and Scientific Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt (1955) . || 3. "Les effets du sol, de la season et de la fumure sur la veget at ibn et le rendement du Cotonnier" Bulletin de l'Union des Agriculteurs d 'Egypte, Mars 1939, No. 501. a«. Translation (by R. Aladj) of a lecture given by D. S. Gracie to the members or the Real Estate Association for Egypt in Alexandria on the 14th March, 1939 || 4. "The Quantity, Distribution and Composition of the Organic Matter and Available Nitrogen in Egyptian Soils" by David S. Gracie and Fahmy Khalil. Bull., No. 222 Technical and Scientific Service, Ministry of Agriculture Egypt (1959) || 5. "Dibble- Sowing of Cotton Methods, Effects and Profits" by David S. Gracie and W. Lawrence Halls. Bull., No. 229 Technical and Scientific Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt (1959) || 6. "The Organic Content of Soils of the Middle East" by David S. Gracie. Proceedings of trie Conference on Middle East Agricultural Development, p. 107, (1944) || 7. "Evaluating the Effects of Nitrogenous Fertilisers by combining Statistical and Agronomic Data" Dy W. .Lawrence Balls, David S. Gracie and Fahmy Khalil. Bull., No. 249 Technical and Scientific Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt (1948) || 8. "The Total and Available Phosphoric Acid in Egyptian Soils and the Effect of Superphosphate on the Main Agricultural Crops" by David S, Gracie and Fahmy Khalil, Bull, No, 251 Technical and Scientific Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt (1948) || 9. "An Analysis of the Factors Governing the Response to Manuring of Cotton in Egypt, (Continued) by David S, Gracie in collaboration with Hussein Enan, Bull, No, 152 Technical and Scientific Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt (19 9

The Development and Evaluation of a Training Program for Residential Child Care Worker Consultants

In 1975 and 1976, a training program for consultants to residential child care workers was developed at Boys Town, Nebraska. A study was conducted to analyze the training program\u27s effectiveness in teaching Boys Town consultants the skills needed to initiate relationships, to conduct direct observation visits, and to give feedback and advice to child care workers. Two groups of consultants received one week of training in July and November, 1976, and a third group did not receive training. Pre and post training data were collected in the form of appropriate and inappropriate consulting behaviors engaged in during videotaped behavior simulations. The data were analyzed using a multiple baseline design across the three groups of subjects. Increases in appropriate behavior and decreases in inappropriate behavior were shown following training in each consultant skill area. Scores for the untrained group remained low and showed little change across baseline assessments. These results suggest that the training program is an effective way to teach skills to consultants in a short period of time

Effects of pH on Growth of Salvinia molesta Mitchell

Growth of giant salvinia ( Salvinia molesta Mitchell) under different pH regimes was examined at the Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility (LAERF) in Lewisville, Texas.(PDF has 5 pages.