Rethinking the reference collection: exploring benchmarks and e-book availability

Librarians in the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh explored the possibility of developing an electronic reference collection that would replace the print reference collection, thus providing access to these valuable materials to a widely dispersed user population. The librarians evaluated the print reference collection and standard collection development lists as potential benchmarks for the electronic collection, and they determined which books were available in electronic format. They decided that the low availability of electronic versions of titles in each benchmark group rendered the creation of an electronic reference collection using either benchmark impractical.     

Using laser Doppler vibrometry to measure capillary surface waves on fluid-fluid interfaces

Capillary wave phenomena are challenging to study, especially for microfluidics where the wavelengths are short, the frequencies are high, and the frequency distribution is rarely confined to a narrow range, let alone a single frequency. Those that have been studying Faraday capillary waves generated by vertical oscillation have chosen to work at larger scales and at low frequencies as a solution to this problem, trading simplicity in measurement for issues with gravity, boundary conditions, and the fidelity of the subharmonic capillary wave motion. Laser Doppler vibrometry using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer is an attractive alternative: The interface’s motion can be characterized at frequencies up to 40 MHz and displacements of as little as a few tens of picometers.     

Making policy with ‘good ideas’: policy networks and the ‘intellectuals’ of New Labour

The educational reforms being enacted in Singapore can be considered exceptional in that they are being undertaken within a highly effective system. We explore these reforms using Brown and Lauder's ideal-typical analysis of ‘neo-Fordist’ and ‘post-Fordist’ models of national economic development. Singapore's reforms have been extensive, ranging from changes to early childhood education through to tertiary education. We examine the nature of state-market relations in education within the context of Singapore's ‘soft authoritarian’ political culture and assess the chances of success of the reforms.