Innovation and network structural dynamics: Study of the alliance network of a major sector of the biotechnology industry

We study the large-scale topology and dynamics of maps of alliances in a major segment of the biotechnology industry. The results point to the joint dynamics of network and innovation. The study demonstrates that the network is scale-free. Competition for links translates into a dynamic exponent that seems to follow the fitter-get-richer model of network growth, with preferential attachment to firms holding key technologies. This network also shows a small-world effect. This work highlights the strategic importance of understanding the growth dynamics and structure of collaboration networks for the building of leading positions in industries led by sustained radical change.     

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Tertiary Education and Management -     

Multitasking during Web search sessions

A user’s single session with a Web search engine or information retrieval (IR) system may consist of seeking information on single or multiple topics, and switch between tasks or multitasking information behavior. Most Web search sessions consist of two queries of approximately two words. However, some Web search sessions consist of three or more queries. We present findings from two studies. First, a study of two-query search sessions on the AltaVista Web search engine, and second, a study of three or more query search sessions on the AltaVista Web search engine. We examine the degree of multitasking search and information task switching during these two sets of AltaVista Web search sessions. A sample of two-query and three or more query sessions were filtered from AltaVista transaction logs from 2002 and qualitatively analyzed. Sessions ranged in duration from less than a minute to a few hours. Findings include: (1) 81% of two-query sessions included multiple topics, (2) 91.3% of three or more query sessions included multiple topics, (3) there are a broad variety of topics in multitasking search sessions, and (4) three or more query sessions sometimes contained frequent topic changes. Multitasking is found to be a growing element in Web searching. This paper proposes an approach to interactive information retrieval (IR) contextually within a multitasking framework. The implications of our findings for Web design and further research are discussed.     

Personality Type and Clinical Supervision Interventions

In this study, the authors investigated personality type of supervisors and supervisees and interventions chosen by supervisors for 78 supervisory dyads from 9 different counselor education programs. Gender effects were also investigated. Results indicated that interventions were not influenced by supervisor personality type as measured by the Revised NEO (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to New Experiences) Personality Inventory (NEO PI‐R; Costa & McCrae, 1992a), nor were they influenced by similarity or dissimilarity of supervisory dyads by type or gender. Rather, most supervision interventions were Intuitive or Perceiving as measured by the Focus of Supervision Form. One exception was when supervisees scored high on Openness on the NEO PI‐R, which resulted in supervisors choosing Judging interventions.     

Inclusive educational practices in Kenya: Evidencing practice of itinerant teachers who work with children with visual impairment in local mainstream schools

This article presents a findings from an investigation of the work of 38 specialist itinerant teachers (ITs) supporting the educational inclusion of children with visual impairment in Kenya. The research was designed around a participatory action research framework involving in-country researchers and participants (teachers) working in collaboration with researchers in the United Kingdom. Following an introductory training workshop, participants kept research journals over a 2-month period in which they recorded details of their itinerant duties (including the processes and content of their visits). Findings provide information about local practices of ITs support for children with visual impairment in mainstream schools and raise broader questions about the barriers to learning and development facing children with disabilities in mainstream schools in Kenya and other developing countries.     

The public perception of doping in sport in Switzerland, 1995-2004

The article reports findings on the perception of doping and anti-doping policies from four representative population surveys carried out in 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2004, as well as from a 2005 - 2006 survey of top-level athletes in Switzerland. The results show a growing public awareness for doping issues and increasing support for a comprehensive anti-doping strategy in Switzerland. The vast majority of the Swiss population and top-level athletes are strongly against doping and support a strategy that combines strict prohibition and sanctioning with informational and educational efforts. The perception of the doping issue and the strategic preferences in fighting doping stated by the public are largely in line with the current anti-doping strategy followed by the Swiss authorities. The results thus suggest a successful use of information resources by the authorities to create public awareness and to communicate its strategy.     

Wise Guys: The Man Who Knew Infinity and Other Movies about Uppity Geniuses

Conventional expectations about subcultural groups can be undermined by unusual performances of some individual members. Several recent movies have concerned people of exceptional ability who unexpectedly excelled at prestigious centers of learning. The Man Who Knew Infinity, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything deal with outstanding scientists and mathematicians at Cambridge University who encounter serious difficulties because of their irregular characteristics. The contradiction between their low status identities and their amazingly high intellectual achievements shows the destructive effects of subcultural stereotypes in the context of supposedly universalistic academic institutions.     

Mrs. Miniver's Girls: Plucky Girls in Hidden Figures,The Zookeeper's Wife,Their Finest,and Colossal

Four recent movies, Hidden Figures, The Zookeeper's Wife, Their Finest, and Colossal exemplify a new cultural version of the movie heroine. This version combines feminism with commitment to solving an overwhelming problem. These heroines, thus, display the character virtues of Wonder Woman and Mrs. Miniver. This new version reflects changing concerns about the cultural understanding of women and a new direction for women moviemakers.     

Young Campers in Love: Who Are the Grown-ups in Moonrise Kingdom?

Popular culture, especially movie culture, is the arena where the struggles of the diverse cultures belonging to age groups are carried out. Moonrise Kingdom is an unusual movie, different from the usual summer or coming of age movies. In such movies, different theories of youth are displayed, providing tools for constructing the political bases of marginalization of adolescents. These theories limit the character traits that can be awarded to all subcultural groups, in this case to youth.     

The People Next Door: Getting Along With the Neighbors in Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg and District 9

Two different perspectives on the immigrant struggles are found in a documentary about the radio and television program The Goldbergs and a science fiction thriller about the treatment of an immigrant alien community. Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg is optimistic and celebrates the achievements of an established ethnic community in America and the woman who conceived and implemented the idea for the show. District 9, excites and terrifies with an imaginary future ethnic catastrophe. A third movie, Amreeka, deals with an ethnic immigrant drama of the present, neither sentimental about past ethnic struggles nor frightening about future disasters. It is, therefore, the most unsettling and least amusing of the three, in spite of its conventional upbeat ending.