The New Information Poor: How Limited Access to Digital Scholarly Resources Impacts Higher Education

The “new” information poor are the individuals and communities who have computer and Internet connectivity, but cannot access scholarly information due to prohibitive costs. Pratt Institute's School of Information and Library Science (SILS) represents such a community and is the subject of this case study. Three measures were analyzed: SILS' four “core” classes were surveyed to determine how many required readings were available via the library; a survey was sent to 31 SILS instructors; and we conducted in-depth interviews with two SILS instructors. While “information poor,” the data suggest our respondents are resourceful in finding ways to cope with their disadvantage.     

London Revisited: South Korea at the Olympics of 1948 and 2012

1948 was South Korea's first ever appearance in the Olympics – a poor country, forced to adjust to division on the peninsula, with a limited athletic presence. But South Korea won its first medals and contributed to the tortuous process of securing its international standing. Sixty-four years later, by the time of its second appearance in a London Olympics South Korea had become a powerful economy with a high international profile and a strong athletic representation – coming 5th in the final medal table. This study compares and contrasts not just the two London Olympics in terms of athletic performances but also the changed roles for South Korea within both the global sporting community and broader international society. Despite the continuing division on the peninsula, the two London Olympics provide symbols and markers of the aspirations, achievements and failures of South Korean policy-makers and their people.     

Killing `Without the Distressing Preliminaries': Scientists' Defence of the British Biological Warfare Programme

This article presents historical cases in which Britishscientists, principally scientific advisors, have attempted to defendresearch on biological weapons. Although the historical record is scant,there is a degree of continuity in their justifications, and a number ofthemes can be identified. It was argued, that biological weaponsresearch is morally justified because it produces humane weapons; thatit is no different from medical or other research; and that it is beingperformed for defensive purposes. It is argued that this defence isdirected primarily towards other scientists working on germ warfare, andwas formed part of the `moral economy' of that secretcommunity.     

You have e-mail,what happens next? Tracking the eyes for genre

This paper reports on an approach to the analysis of form (layout and formatting) during genre recognition recorded using eye tracking. The researchers focused on eight different types of e-mail, such as calls for papers, newsletters and spam, which were chosen to represent different genres. The study involved the collection of oculographic behavior data based on the scanpath duration and scanpath length based metric, to highlight the ways in which people view the features of genres. We found that genre analysis based on purpose and form (layout features, etc.) was an effective means of identifying the characteristics of these e-mails.     

The influence of physical education on physical activity levels of urban elementary students

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of physical education in shaping physical activity patterns. Seventy-one Hispanic and African American elementary students participated in the study. Students attended one 30- and one 60-min physical education class weekly. Pedometer steps were used to estimate physical activity. Data suggest that students did not engage in enough physical activity on a daily basis to incur health benefits. There were significant step differences in 0-, 30-, and 60-min physical education days, with the most steps occurring on 60-min days. Results from the study suggest physical education may be an important source of physical activity for Hispanic and African American students, especially girls, and may influence participation in physical activity outside of class.     

Kinematic characteristics of elite men's and women's 20 km race walking and their variation during the race

The aim of this study was to analyse the important kinematic variables in elite men's and women's 20 km race walking. Thirty men and 30 women were analysed from video data recorded during the World Race Walking Cup. Video data were also recorded at four points during the European Cup Race Walking and 12 men and 12 women analysed from these data. Two camcorders operating at 50 Hz recorded at each race for 3D analysis. The two main performance determinants of speed were step length and cadence. Men were faster than women because of their greater step lengths but there was no difference in cadence. A reduction in step length was the initial cause of slowing down with later decreases in speed caused by reductions in cadence. Shorter contact times were important in optimising both step length and cadence, and faster athletes tended to have longer flight times than slower athletes. It was less clear which other kinematic variables were critical for successful walking, particularly with regard to joint angles. Different associations were found for some key variables in men and women, suggesting that their techniques may differ due to differences in height and mass.