Finding related sentence pairs in MEDLINE

We explore the feasibility of automatically identifying sentences in different MEDLINE abstracts that are related in meaning. We compared traditional vector space models with machine learning methods for detecting relatedness, and found that machine learning was superior. The Huber method, a variant of Support Vector Machines which minimizes the modified Huber loss function, achieves 73% precision when the score cutoff is set high enough to identify about one related sentence per abstract on average. We illustrate how an abstract viewed in PubMed might be modified to present the related sentences found in other abstracts by this automatic procedure.     

Approval plans,discipline change,and the importance of human mediated book selection

This study examines holdings of 21 members of the Association of Research Libraries for books reviewed in American Historical Review. The study asserts that approval plans are inadequate for collecting from small publishers or from scholarship that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Although approval plans increase efficiency in collection development, the need for expert selection cannot be overstated. Results indicated that small publisher's books were less likely to be in libraries than university press publisher's books, and that history monographs are frequently classified outside disciplinary boundaries, and are therefore invisible to approval plans that define disciplines based on classification systems.     

Redundancies,re‐organisations,transfers and mergers in the higher education sector: Employment law and human resources aspects

This is part one of a paper based on a Keynote presentation delivered at the AUA Annual Conference, Promoting excellence in HE Management, at the University of Nottingham, 2–4 April 2007.     

Examining gender similarity and mentor’s supervisory status in mentoring relationships

This study examined the influence of mentor’s status (supervisor vs. non‐supervisor) and gender similarity (homogeneous vs. diversified) of mentor–protégé dyads on protégé’s perception of mentoring functions and outcomes. We collected and analyzed data from 217 mentor–protégé dyads comprised of working professionals from a variety of industries. Results of MANCOVA indicated that supervisory mentors provided more career development functions than non‐supervisory mentors. Mentor–protégé gender similarity and mentor’s supervisory status interacted to influence psychosocial support, career development, and career satisfaction. Key findings are discussed in terms of implications for future research and career counseling in industry and education.     

Reports on Books

This paper offers a case study of Rhyddings School as it rethinks its approach to school planning. It provides a critique of existing practice before outlining and developing a new framework for planning in the school. In evaluating a new model of planning, it provides a set of 'implications for schools' as a means of reviewing key aspects of the new model.