Entity ranking in Wikipedia: utilising categories,links and topic difficulty prediction

Entity ranking has recently emerged as a research field that aims at retrieving entities as answers to a query. Unlike entity extraction where the goal is to tag names of entities in documents, entity ranking is primarily focused on returning a ranked list of relevant entity names for the query. Many approaches to entity ranking have been proposed, and most of them were evaluated on the INEX Wikipedia test collection. In this paper, we describe a system we developed for ranking Wikipedia entities in answer to a query. The entity ranking approach implemented in our system utilises the known categories, the link structure of Wikipedia, as well as the link co-occurrences with the entity examples (when provided) to retrieve relevant entities as answers to the query. We also extend our entity ranking approach by utilising the knowledge of predicted classes of topic difficulty. To predict the topic difficulty, we generate a classifier that uses features extracted from an INEX topic definition to classify the topic into an experimentally pre-determined class. This knowledge is then utilised to dynamically set the optimal values for the retrieval parameters of our entity ranking system. Our experiments demonstrate that the use of categories and the link structure of Wikipedia can significantly improve entity ranking effectiveness, and that topic difficulty prediction is a promising approach that could also be exploited to further improve the entity ranking performance.     

Time-driven activity-based costing for a library acquisition process: A case study in a Belgian University

Library managers are continuously urged to provide better library services at a lower cost. To cope with these cost pressures, library management needs to improve its understanding of the relevant cost drivers. Through a case study, we show how to perform time-driven activity-based costing for a library acquisition process in a Belgian university and provide evidence of the benefits of such an analysis.     

A new family of old Hirsch index variants

The Hirsch index h and the g index proposed by Egghe as well as the f index and the t index proposed by Tol are shown to be special cases of a family of Hirsch index variants, based on the generalized mean with exponent p. Inequalities between the different indices are derived from the generalized mean inequality. The graphical determination of the indices is shown for one example.     

Ranking of library and information science researchers: Comparison of data sources for correlating citation data,and expert judgments

This paper studies the correlations between peer review and citation indicators when evaluating research quality in library and information science (LIS). Forty-two LIS experts provided judgments on a 5-point scale of the quality of research published by 101 scholars; the median rankings resulting from these judgments were then correlated with h-, g- and H-index values computed using three different sources of citation data: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Google Scholar (GS). The two variants of the basic h-index correlated more strongly with peer judgment than did the h-index itself; citation data from Scopus was more strongly correlated with the expert judgments than was data from GS, which in turn was more strongly correlated than data from WoS; correlations from a carefully cleaned version of GS data were little different from those obtained using swiftly gathered GS data; the indices from the citation databases resulted in broadly similar rankings of the LIS academics; GS disadvantaged researchers in bibliometrics compared to the other two citation database while WoS disadvantaged researchers in the more technical aspects of information retrieval; and experts from the UK and other European countries rated UK academics with higher scores than did experts from the USA.     

A case study of the modified g index: Counting multi-author publications fractionally

The citation records of 26 physicists are analyzed in order to determine the modified g index g_m which takes multiple coauthorship into account by fractionalized counting of the publications. The results are compared with the original g index as well as with the h index and the respective modified h index h_m. Although the correlations between these indices are relatively strong, the arrangement of the datasets is significantly different in detail depending on whether they are put into order according to the values of either the original or the modified indices.     

An organizational learning perspective on academic development: A strategy for an uncertain future

Abstract

This paper takes as a starting point the interest in organization theory in the idea of ‘learning organizations’ and the practical implications for conceptualizations of academic development. In doing so, it analyses epistemological and methodological complexities associated with the concept of academic development from a perspective that focuses on organizational learning. The contention of the paper is that an appropriate theoretical basis for academic development in the current times is provided by a broad organizational learning perspective. It is argued that an organizational learning methodology for the practice of academic development has the potential to provide powerful learning and feedback structures well‐suited to institutional inquiry and adaptation that will assist universities to meet the turbulence and challenges of an unpredictable future. A vignette from The University of Melbourne describes a prototype for such a methodology.     

The importance of academic deans' interpersonal/negotiating skills as leaders

This paper outlines core features of what it terms consumer-based learning and relates this to the context of increasing utilitarian goals and values of higher education. It argues that this presents challenges broader than the immediate teaching and learning environment and student experience, which also potentially impacts the future lives of graduates leaving university.     

The challenge of enhancing inclusive education in developing countries

This paper is concerned with enhancing inclusive education (IE) in developing countries (DCs). It is estimated that the majority of the world's population of people with disabilities live in DCs of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and the Middle East, some 150 million of them being children, but less than 2% are receiving any form of rehabilitation service. Thus successful implementation of IE could increase the number of those with disabilities receiving educational and other services in DCs. Evidence, however, indicates that IE is not being satisfactorily implemented in most DCs. Factors such as the absence of support services, relevant materials, inadequate personnel training programmes, lack of funding structure and the absence of enabling legislation are the major problems of effective implementation of IE in these countries. The implications for improvements in these areas to achieve meaningful implementation of IE in DCs are discussed.     

Governing Boards in Public Higher Education Institutions: A perspective from the United States

Governing boards have a long tradition and prominent role in U.S. higher education. The diversity of institutional types, and thus governing boards, represents a multifaceted tapestry of functions, roles, and responsibilities. This paper will attempt to define the parameters of public higher education governing boards in the USA and offer critical insights into their degree of effectiveness. It is the author’s position that both positive and negative lessons can be learned through an examination of these public governing boards in the USA. The recent emergence of university boards in Europe is examined and their characteristics are compared against the characteristics of public and private boards in the USA.     

Teachers’ knowledge and confidence for promoting positive mental health in primary school communities

This paper reports an investigation into Australian primary school teachers’ knowledge and confidence for mental health promotion. Questionnaires were delivered to 1397 teachers. In-depth interviews were held with 37 teachers. Quantitative results showed that half to two thirds of teachers felt efficacious and knowledgeable about selected components of mental health promotion. Independent judgments by staff about students’ mental health status concurred with students’ scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in about 75% of cases, indicating a good level of staff awareness about students’ mental health status. Exposure to the KidsMatter Primary mental health promotion initiative was associated with improvements in teachers’ efficacy, knowledge and pedagogy, with small to medium effect sizes. Qualitative analysis indicated that teachers’ subject-matter and pedagogical knowledge were heavily reliant on curriculum resources. Implications of the findings for the implementation of school-based mental health promotion initiatives are discussed.