The National Enquiry Into Scholarly Communication—Twenty years after

The National Enquiry into Scholarly Communication was organized under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Its report was published by Johns Hopkins University Press after three years of research, 1n 1979. Why was it undertaken, who was involved, what did it recommend, and what was the result?     

Classroom cultures from a social constructivist's perspective

Using examples from related case studies, the possible consequences of a social constructivist perspective for the teaching and learning of mathematics are discussed.     

The origin of the library approval plan

The approval plan is a widely used method of getting scholarly and scientific books into scholarly and research libraries immediately upon publication at minimal cost to the libraries. It was developed in the early 1960s by the former library book-selling firm of Richard Abel & Co., now Blackwell North America. It is a quite sophisticated and complex computer-based system which grew out of a radical, and hence risky, solution to a related set of long-term unresolved difficulties in the building and maintenance of scholarly library collections. The history of the evolution of the system within the context of resolving many of these problems is traced here.     

Robuste Indizes für Projection Pursuit

Zusammenfassung.   Die moderne und hoch komplexe Fertigung, z.B. in der Halbleiterindustrie, erfordert für die dabei anfallenden Messdaten der Anlagen- bzw. Prozessparameter multivariate Analysemethoden. Eine dieser m?glichen Analysemethoden ist Projection Pursuit (PP). Dieses Verfahren ist durch geschickte Wahl des so genannten Projektionsindex in der Lage, verschiedenste Datencharakteristika zu detektieren und diese auf anschauliche Weise zu visualisieren. Bei den Projektionsindizes handelt es sich um Funktionen, die eine Projektion auf unterschiedliche Merkmale hin bewerten und dabei jeder Projektion einen Funktionswert zuweisen. Dieser Funktionswert spiegelt die Aussagekraft der Projektion (in Abh?ngigkeit vom verwendeten Index) wider. Die Auswahl bzw. der Aufbau dieser Indizes ist hierbei von entscheidender Bedeutung. Alle hier vorgestellten Indizes zeichnen sich vor allem durch ihren robusten Charakter gegenüber durch Ausrei?er kontaminierte Daten, wie sie in realen Datenszenarien vorkommen, aus. Die durch Anwendung dieser Indizes gewonnenen Einblicke in die komplexe Struktur der Daten erm?glichen es, hochdimensionale Parameterabweichungen und komplexe Zusammenh?nge innerhalb der Daten zu finden. Eingegangen am 11. Februar 2002 / Angenommen am 14. Mai 2002     

Mobilising interpretive capital with teachers for transformation of school grounds in Kenya

This paper reports on findings from a recent collaborative participatory action research study that involved a group of teachers from two Kenyan schools in a review and development of interpretation resources and materials. It focuses on an engaging process between teachers and non-formal educators in which interpretive capital (the tools and skills of interpretation) were socially constructed, shared and made available for the transformation of school grounds to foster environmental learning. The concept of 'mobilising interpretive capital' has been applied to describe the process of generating theoretical and practical accounts of the symbolic capital within non-formal education organisations. Social construction and circulation of interpretive capital for transformation of school grounds as discussed in this paper highlights that interpretation is a learning process in which meaning is created jointly in a specific context. The teacher-centred approach adopted in this study provides an example of how research design decisions may contribute to environmental education praxis, social transformation and change.     

Quality and efficiency of basic research in molecular biology: a bibliometric analysis of thirteen excellent research institutes

We try to assess, in a systematic and objective manner, the research performance of 13 research institutes active in the field of molecular biology. For this purpose we have counted the number of scientific publications and the number of citations received during a five-year period (1980–1984). We use citations per publication as an indicator of quality and costs per citation as an indicator of efficiency of research. Peer review seems to discourage uninteresting, i.e. not cited, research. Grant systems seem to work more efficiently than funding on a permanent institutional basis.     

Preparation for lifelong learning using ePortfolios

Rapid technological change, increasing globalization and a changing world of employment with multiple roles during one's professional life are necessitating a change from knowledge to learning societies. Full participation requires lifelong learning skills, meaning the ability to solve problems, work both independently and in a team, communicate effectively in all formats and on all levels, and self-direct one's learning and professional development needs. Universities need to take responsibility in preparing students for lifelong learning. While engineering and science degrees traditionally do not emphasize the importance of lifelong learning skills new programmes of study are now being introduced, often using electronic portfolios to support engagement with learning objectives and reflection. This article describes an electronic portfolio initiative that is targeted at engineering and computer science students. The initiative aims to create awareness among students on the nature and importance of lifelong learning skills, to facilitate the development of such skills and to assist students in showcasing their competence regarding these skills. Interviews with industry representatives regarding the characteristics of a lifelong learner and the values of constructing and presenting portfolios were conducted and have resulted in strong support for the electronic portfolio initiative. The article provides background on lifelong learning and electronic portfolios, outlines the design of the initiative and then focuses on feedback from industry representatives.