Growth behavior of publications and patents: A comparative study on selected Asian economies

This study attempts to model the growth behavior of the number of publications and patents of South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Malaysia. Three competing growth functions, namely, simple logistic growth function, bi-logistic growth function and logistic function within a dynamic carrying capacity were considered. The findings provide insight to the diffusion process of science and technology, often measured by the number of publications and patents, respectively. The function that provides the best fit to the observed data was opted for explaining the diffusion process. The function with the best fit is the bi-logistic growth function for the number of publications as well as the number of patents of South Korea and Taiwan, the logistic growth function within a dynamic carrying capacity (LGDCC) for the number of publications and the bi-logistic growth function for the number of patents of Japan, and the LGDCC for the number of publications and simple growth function for the number of patents of Malaysia. The results suggest a dynamic self-propagating growth for the science and technology, and thereby a transition from science and technology-push to market-pull growth for South Korea and Taiwan. While a similar transition was observed for the technology of Japan, the growth in science had entered a maturity stage. On the other hand, the growth potential in science is dynamic for Malaysia, but its technological advancement is relatively lower and static compared to the other economies.     

Accelerating knowledge production on educational leadership and management in East Asia: a strategic analysis

This paper discusses a strategy for accelerating the development of a regionally grounded knowledge base on educational leadership and management in East Asia. The study reviews data on patterns of knowledge production in East Asia, and employs the findings in the development of a strategy for increasing knowledge production. The study concludes that a suitable coordination strategy for the region should incorporate formal and informal strategies, be intermediate in scale and organised around a common research agenda. The authors propose that the substantive findings and the method of strategy analysis may also be relevant for academic leaders in other developing regions of the world.     

THE RANGE AND IMPACT OF LEA BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT PLANS

The requirement that all Local Educational Authorities in England and Wales produce plans for their provision for ‘pupils with problems’ has resulted in a wide range of responses. The data in this paper are drawn from a sample of Behaviour Support Plans and the responses of a group of individuals (teachers) closely affected by them. The plans are firstly analysed using an evaluation framework developed from Circular 1198, which announced the Behaviour Support initiative. The paper then draws on the evaluatory critiques of teachers who work in both mainstream and special (EBD) schools; these were obtained by interview. Data suggest that, BSPs generally follow the pattern of guidance provided in the Circular, although there are several notable omissions in some plans. There are wide variations in the way in which BSPs have been perceived by teachers working with children with behaviour problems; importantly, these views regard some BSPs as, in part, little more than reiterations of previously attempted initiatives.     

PEER AND STUDENT-FACULTY RELATIONS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

This study investigated differences in peer and student?faculty relationships of male and female community college students. Men reported more frequent participation in college activities, whereas women reported more frequent involvement in less formal activities such as studying with other students. Women had less difficulty than men meeting and making friends. For both men and women, little student?faculty interaction outside the classroom was reported.     

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging’s Transformative Role as a Leader of Change

Abstract

The transformation of library metadata encoded in MARC to linked data will enable libraries to participate in the Semantic Web. This transformation, however, will be an iterative development dependent upon community-based decisions. The PCC, as a community-based organization, is ideally positioned to lead this transformation. As PCC guides this transition, three broad areas must be resolved: the conversion of legacy data to linked data, the use of identifiers to support controlled headings, and the transformation of current workflows to linked-data counterparts. By embracing the Web as a community, PCC can confirm its relevance in a complex web of global data.     

Who are We?

This article scrutinises the usage of the words “we”, “us” and “our” by BBC radio journalists when reporting and discussing news and current affairs. By analysing reports and discussions on the “flagship” Radio 4 Today, a daily news programme whose centrality to political and public debate is widely recognised, the article raises substantive questions about clarity, accuracy and impartiality in senior broadcast journalists’ choice of language. In exploring the assumptions which may underlie the invocation, via such language choices, of an implied community, and against the backdrop of the BBC's commitment to impartiality in its Editorial Guidelines, the article identifies numerous recent examples where the choice of words and identifiers can be seen as undermining the BBC's impartiality and which show several of its senior journalists adopting the first-person plural “we” when reporting on matters of public policy. The findings therefore indicate a general need to codify norms which are seen to integrate the need for accuracy as well as impartiality, and for these norms to take into account issues which might at first glance seem to be inconsequential, micro-level features of the journalists’ language. The evidence suggests that more fine-grained guidelines on permissible circumstances for BBC journalists’ usage of “we” and “our” need revising and disseminating in the light of these findings.     

Research and Training in Higher Education: The State of the Art

The author presents a tour d'horizon of the field of higher education studies, including research on higher education, citing the relevant publication series and journals dealing with the subject, the strongest institutions, worldwide, offering university level studies in the field, and the antecedents of the endeavour. It is growing in importance as higher education institutions and systems expand, diversify, and become increasingly complex, requiring more and better insights regarding themselves for various purposes. The field needs to more fully tap findings in parallel interdisciplinary fields and to publicize the results of private institutional endeavours such as institutional research. A very glowing prognosis for higher education studies is given.