Jack's story: A need to know

This article examines a recent case study exploring evidence that children in early childhood services can use ICT to direct their own inquiry learning. A qualitative case study involving an interview and the learning story tool of assessment was conducted to describe the experience of one child and his teacher. They engaged in sustained shared thinking using ICT as a tool to facilitate inquiry in an early childhood setting. The findings indicate that children in early childhood settings can use ICT to direct their own inquiry learning. Two key factors are identified that enable this. These factors are the child as an active learner, and a supportive well resourced learning environment. In this article we argue that these factors need to be acknowledged in teaching practice if ICT is to be used in meaningful and purposeful ways

Ask the audience! Using a Personal Response System to enhance information literacy and induction sessions at Kingston University

The paper focuses on the use of a Personal Response System (PRS) as a tool for engaging students during initial library induction sessions. The Personal Response system is an interactive tool that is appropriate for a wide range of learning and teaching activities. The PRS works by each student (or group of students) responding to questions or statements using a handset. A virtual library tour created by Kingston University library staff was developed interspersed with the use of the PRS. The paper explores the background to the development of this virtual tour and the use of the PRS in information literacy sessions prior to the introduction in the library induction sessions. It reflects on the advantages of using this technology and the benefits for both staff and students

The civilizing process in London’s Old Bailey

The jury trial is a critical point where the state and its citizens come together to define the limits of acceptable behavior. Here we present a large-scale quantitative analysis of trial transcripts from the Old Bailey that reveal a major transition in the nature of this defining moment. By coarse-graining the spoken word testimony into synonym sets and dividing the trials based on indictment, we demonstrate the emergence of semantically distinct violent and nonviolent trial genres. We show that although in the late 18th century the semantic content of trials for violent offenses is functionally indistinguishable from that for nonviolent ones, a long-term, secular trend drives the system toward increasingly clear distinctions between violent and nonviolent acts. We separate this process into the shifting patterns that drive it, determine the relative effects of bureaucratic change and broader cultural shifts, and identify the synonym sets most responsible for the eventual genre distinguishability. This work provides a new window onto the cultural and institutional changes that accompany the monopolization of violence by the state, described in qualitative historical analysis as the civilizing process

Organic versus conventional dairy farming – studies from the Öjebyn Project

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. A study (the Öjebyn Project) was conducted to determine differences between organic and conventional dairy farming systems. Comparisons of feed intake, milk production, live weight (LW), feed efficiency and animal health were conducted, based on records from 145 dairy cows (238 parities). A lower daily metabolisable energy (ME) intake, lower milk yield and a higher protein content were recorded in the organic herd during the first ten weeks of lactation. No differences were recorded between the systems in either average total DM intake or efficiency of feed conversion, calculated as MJ of feed/kg of energy-corrected milk (ECM). There were a trend to lower LW change and better health in the organic herd. Most differences between the systems were recorded during the early lactation period

Bootstrap methods for the empirical study of decision-making and information flows in social systems

Abstract: We characterize the statistical bootstrap for the estimation of information theoretic quantities from data, with particular reference to its use in the study of large-scale social phenomena. Our methods allow one to preserve, approximately, the underlying axiomatic relationships of information theory—in particular, consistency under arbitrary coarse-graining—that motivate use of these quantities in the first place, while providing reliability comparable to the state of the art for Bayesian estimators. We show how information-theoretic quantities allow for rigorous empirical study of the decision-making capacities of rational agents, and the time-asymmetric flows of information in distributed systems. We provide illustrative examples by reference to ongoing collaborative work on the semantic structure of the British Criminal Court system and the conflict dynamics of the contemporary Afghanistan insurgency

On Disjoint hypercubes in Fibonacci cubes

The {\em Fibonacci cube} of dimension $n$, denoted as $\Gamma\_n$, is the subgraph of $n$-cube $Q\_n$ induced by vertices with no consecutive 1's. We study the maximum number of disjoint subgraphs in $\Gamma\_n$ isomorphic to $Q\_k$, and denote this number by $q\_k(n)$. We prove several recursive results for $q\_k(n)$, in particular we prove that $q\_{k}(n) = q\_{k-1}(n-2) + q\_{k}(n-3)$. We also prove a closed formula in which $q\_k(n)$ is given in terms of Fibonacci numbers, and finally we give the generating function for the sequence $\{q\_{k}(n)\}\_{n=0}^{ \infty}$

From Work to Play: making Bodies in Flight's performance walk Dream-work.

This edited collection provides an introduction to the emerging interdisciplinary field of cultural mapping, offering a range of perspectives that are international in scope. Cultural mapping is a mode of inquiry and a methodological tool in urban planning, cultural sustainability, and community development that makes visible the ways local stories, practices, relationships, memories, and rituals constitute places as meaningful locations. The chapters address themes, processes, approaches, and research methodologies drawn from examples in Australia, Canada, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Italy, Malaysia, Malta, Palestine, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Ukraine. Contributors explore innovative ways to encourage urban and cultural planning, community development, artistic intervention, and public participation in cultural mapping—recognizing that public involvement and artistic practices introduce a range of challenges spanning various phases of the research process, from the gathering of data, to interpreting data, to presenting "findings" to a broad range of audiences. The book responds to the need for histories and case studies of cultural mapping that are globally distributed and that situate the practice locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally