The Greek Publishing Industry and Professional Development

In the Greek publishing industry, tradition and the desire for innovation go hand in hand. The industry is influenced by European developments in publishing and bookselling in terms of book promotion methods, the role of chain bookstores and the impact of information technology. Greece shares the features of other small book markets in Europe, whilst retaining the individuality defined by the Greek language and the country’s cultural and social conditions. This article provides an overview of the publishing industry in Greece through a review of the relevant literature and the available statistics. This work also focuses on the need to develop publishing skills through publishing education and continuous professional development.     

Uncovering the Evidence: Faculty Perceptions of Distance Library Services

Usage statistics are a regular part of assessment but the lack of context leaves librarians pondering the reasons for fluctuations in use. Through development of an online survey, we examined faculty perceptions, knowledge, and use of distance library services to support online courses. Responses provided much needed context and helped to determine priorities and direction for services. While this survey was a useful marketing tool, results emphasized that the greatest need was for ongoing communication with faculty to increase awareness of services provided.     

A guide for the perplexed: Scientific educational research, methodolatry, and the gold versus platinum standards

The paper opens by characterizing recent discourse about empirical educational research as the “new Babel”-critics, using different theoretical vocabularies and making different deep assumptions about the nature of social life, are failing to communicate with each other. After locating some of the critical positions on a left-right continuum, the main discussion focusses upon the end of this continuum where there are located the recent attempts to restore rigor to educational research by using the so-called “gold standard” of randomized field trials. It is argued that positions at this end of the continuum misrepresent the nature of science, and some examples are briefly mentioned in order to covey the point that it is fruitful to view scientists as making convincing cases, cases that appeal to a wide variety of evidence. This assessment of scientific cases is called the “platinum standard”.     

Young children's understanding of perception, desire, and emotion

Very young children seem to know that people experience several mental states: desires, perceptions, emotions. In three studies, we investigated 2- and young 3-year-olds' judgments and communications about how these states connect together in people's lives and minds. Two experimental studies with 56 participants demonstrated young children's understanding of at least one set of connections: In appropriate circumstances, a person's perception of desirable or undesirable objects leads to related emotional experiences. A complementary investigation of four young children's everyday conversations demonstrated their awareness of and expression of several additional connections between people's desires, perceptions, and emotions.     

A Counselling Framework for Caribbean Children and Families Who Have Experienced Migratory Separation and Reunion

This paper presents research findings on childrens’ responses to migratory separation and later reunion in Caribbean families and the needs of these families when parents migrate and leave their children behind. Implications of this type of separation on children, parents and surrogate caregivers are discussed. The challenges that counsellors in both the ‘sending’ and host countries face working with this population are also examined and suggestions made for psychosocial intervention and guidelines for counselling in both societies. The need for culturally competent counsellors to work with the growing population of immigrants in North America and Europe is indicated.     

What Makes the Foucault Pendulum Move among the Stars?

Foucault’s pendulum exhibition in 1851 occurred in an era now known by development of the theorems of Coriolis and the formulation of dynamical meteorology by Ferrel. Yet today the behavior of the pendulum is often misunderstood. The existence of a horizontal component of Newtonian gravitation is essential for understanding the behavior with respect to the stars. Two simple mechanical principles describe why the path of oscillation is fixed only at the poles; the principle of centripetal acceleration and the principle of conservation of angular momentum. A sky map is used to describe the elegant path among the stars produced by these principles.