The Consequences of Information: Institutional Implications of Technological Change,by Jannis Kallinikos. Cheltenham,UK: Edward Elgar, 2006. $35.00 paper/$95.00 cloth. ISBN 978-1-84720-500-1 paper/978-1-84542-328-5 cloth

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been mandated to “acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word. …” With this authority the department has taken advantage of continuing advances of communications and computer technologies by initiating several programs related to the electronic dissemination of agricultural information. For example, the Foreign Agricultural Service has begun testing the release of agricultural trade leads through the University of Nebraska's AGNET computer‐based network. The Agricultural Marketing Service disseminates updated market data on more than 150 farm commodities over its leased wire market news network; the system has 140 terminals linked by some 14,500 miles of leased wires. Additional projects described in the article include a pilot project to deliver market news information to farmers via public television, programs testing the electronic marketing of livestock, and the electronic mail network operated by the department's Office of Governmental and Public Affairs.     

Toward effective group formation in computer-supported collaborative learning

Group formation task as a starting point for computer-supported collaborative learning plays a key role in achieving pedagogical goals. Various approaches have been reported in the literature to address this problem, but none have offered an optimal solution. In this research, an online learning environment was modeled as a weighted undirected complete graph in which each learner was implied as a node and the relationship between them was denoted as a weighted arc. The weight of each link indicated the similarity degree between the corresponding individuals. The similarity between two students was measured as the mean of their absolute interest levels. The graph was also represented through a symmetric adjacency matrix. Then, a novel binary integer programming formulation was proposed to model the group formation problem and optimally assign each learner to the most appropriate group. The method was utilized to divide an online class of 32 learners into 8 groups of size 4. Findings indicated that the suggested model was successful in optimally solving the problem in 20.53 seconds, on average. The performance of the method was also compared with a modified version of K-means clustering algorithm. Although, the running time of the suggested technique was not as good as the clustering algorithm, it generated better outcomes in theory and in practice.     

Variations in cadmium and nitrate co-accumulation among water spinach genotypes and implications for screening safe genotypes for human consumption

Vegetables are important constituents of the human diet. Heavy metals and nitrate are among the major contaminants of vegetables. Consumption of vegetables and fruits with accumulated heavy metals and nitrate has the potential to damage different body organs leading to unwanted effects. Breeding vegetables with low heavy metal and nitrate contaminants is a cost-effective approach. We investigated 38 water spinach genotypes for low Cd and nitrate co-accumulation. Four genotypes, i.e. JXDY, GZQL, XGDB, and B888, were found to have low co-accumulation of Cd (<0.71 mg/kg dry weight) and nitrate (<3100 mg/kg fresh weight) in the edible parts when grown in soils with moderate contamination of both Cd (1.10 mg/kg) and nitrate (235.2 mg/kg). These genotypes should be appropriate with minimized risk to humans who consume them. The Cd levels in the edible parts of water spinach were positively correlated with the concentration of Pb or Zn, but Cd, Pb, or Zn was negatively correlated with P concentration. These results indicate that these three heavy metals may be absorbed into the plant in similar proportions or in combination, minimizing the influx to aerial parts. Increasing P fertilizer application rates appears to prevent heavy metal and nitrate translocation to shoot tissues and the edible parts of water spinach on co-contaminated soils.     

Subtractive Schooling and Identity: A Case Study of Ethnic Minority Students in Vietnam

This article examines the impact of subtractive schooling, including language use in education, on the identity of a group of ethnic minority students in Central Highlands of Vietnam. Drawing on semistructured interview data, a deeper look is taken into the ways in which these students identify themselves with their languages, cultures, and social relations. Findings reveal that the subtractive power of the school language and the institutional milieu profoundly influenced their identity construction by creating the conditions for (a) the devaluation of their language and cultural identity as a consequence of the invasion of their sociocultural territory by the dominant language and culture and (b) the segregation and disunity that affected their identity construction through social relations. Although subtractive schooling apparently facilitated students’ integration into the mainstream, its invisible power forced them not only to integrate but also to bear the full burden of constructing new identities to adjust to the school environment and the mainstream society.     

Politic of security,privacy and transparency in human learning systems

The preservation of confidentiality has become a major issue for the majority of applications that process personal information, the sensitivity of this information requires creators to set rules for the sharing and use of access control policies. A great deal of research has already been conducted in educational environments. However, one aspect that has not received much attention is the important role of Information Security, especially in newer education environments such as the e-learning environment. In this article we seek to propose a policy of security in such a way to affect views of profiles for each user to control the information accessed by this user.     

The effects of maturation on jumping ability and sprint adaptations to plyometric training in youth soccer players

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of maturation on power and sprint performance adaptations following 6 weeks of plyometric training in youth soccer players during pre-season. Sixty male soccer players were categorized into 3 maturity groups (Pre, Mid and Post peak height velocity [PHV]) and then randomly assigned to plyometric group and control group. Vertical jump, standing long jump, and 20-m sprint (with and without ball) tests were collected before- and after-intervention. After the intervention, the Pre, Mid and Post-PHV groups showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) and small to moderate effect size (ES) improvement in vertical jump (ES = 0.48; 0.57; 0.73), peak power output (E = 0.60; 0.64; 0.76), standing long jump (ES = 0.62; 0.65; 0.7), 20-m sprint (ES = ?0.58; ?0.66), and 20-m sprint with ball (ES = ?0.44; ?0.8; ?0.55) performances. The Post-PHV soccer players indicated greater gains than Pre-PHV in vertical jump and sprint performance after training (P ≤ 0.05). Short-term plyometric training had positive effects on sprinting and jumping-power which are important determinants of match-winning actions in soccer. These results indicate that a sixty foot contact, twice per week program, seems effective in improving power and sprint performance in youth soccer players.     

New ways of building,showcasing, and measuring scholarly reputation

The article reports on a study of the views and actions of nearly a hundred scholars – mostly academic researchers from four European countries and four disciplines – in regard to scholarly reputation in the Science 2.0 age. It specifically looks at the role that 'emerging reputational mechanisms and platforms are playing in building, maintaining, and showcasing scholarly reputation in the digital age. Popular examples of such platforms are ResearchGate and Academia.edu . Data were obtained through one‐to‐one interviews and focus groups, supported by desk research. The main findings were: (a) it is early days and uptake is light and patchy with platforms largely used for non‐reputational purposes, such as sharing documents; (b) most users were passive and did not fully engage with the social aspects of the platforms; (c) the reputational focus was very much on just one scholarly activity (research), on just two outputs of that activity (publications and conferences) and one measurement of that activity (citations), but there are the stirrings of change; (d) young researchers are set to profit most from the emerging platforms.     

A global questionnaire survey of the scholarly communication attitudes and behaviours of early career researchers

This article describes an international study informed by a 3‐year‐long qualitative longitudinal project, which sought to discover the scholarly communication attitudes and behaviour of early career researchers (ECRs). Using a combination of small‐scale interviews and a larger‐scale survey, ECRs were questioned on their searching and reading behaviour, publishing practices, open data, and their use of social media. Questionnaire invitations were sent out via publisher lists, social media networks, university research networks, and specialist ECR membership organizations. One‐thousand and six‐hundred responses were received, with many coming from China, Russia, and Poland. Results showed that ECRs are adopting millennial‐facing tools/platforms, with Google, Google Scholar, social media, and smartphones becoming embedded in their scholarly activities. Open data sharing obtains widespread support but somewhat less practice. There are some differences in attitudes and behaviour according to age and subject specialism.