Inter-Library Loan Service in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Case Study of Medical Libraries

The last 20 years have seen a marked increase in co-operation among Saudi medical libraries, with inter-library loan service at the forefront. This is an investigation of the current situation of co-operative inter-lending and resource sharing among medical libraries in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study discusses various methods for providing inter-library loan service including direct inter-lending, lending through union catalogs, and centralized lending. Other resource sharing activities are also described. The case study methodology was employed. Documents, interviews, and personal conversations were utilized to provide needed information. A number of medical libraries were chosen, and their inter-library loan requests for the year 1995 were thoroughly investigated. Results are analyzed, and some concluding remarks for future action are presented.     

Content and method

Educational Sociology: A Subject Index of Doctoral Dissertations Completed at American Universities, 1941–1963. Francesco Cordasco and Leonard Covello, compilers. (New York: Scarcecrow Press, 1965. Pp. 226. $5.00.)

The Prospective Teacher's Knowledge of Library Fundamentals. Ralph Perkins. (New York: Scarcecrow Press, 1965. Pp. 202. $4.50.)

Adolescents and the Schools. James S. Coleman. (New York: Basic Books, 1965. Pp. 121. $4.50.)

The Emergent in Curriculum. Gail M. Inlow. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1966. Pp. 353. $6.95.)

Studying History: How and Why. Robert V. Daniels. (New York: Prentice‐Hall, 1966. Pp. 105. $1.50. Paperback)

Physical Education: A Problem‐Solving Approach to Health and Fitness. Perry B. Johnson and others. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. Pp. 486. $6.95.)

Teaching Contemporary Mathematics in the Elementary School. Charles F. Howard and Enoch Dumas. (New York: Harper and Row, 1966. Pp. 309. $7.50.)

Education in Metropolitan Areas. Robert J. Havighurst. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1966. Pp. 260. $3.50 Paperback)

The Adolescent Experience. Elizabeth Douvan and Joseph Adelson. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1966. Pp. 471. $7.95.)     

Internet in Yemen: Problems and Prospects (A Case Study)

The Internet has caught the public in its expanding web. It is beginning to reshape other media and is now making its way into countries all over the world including developing countries. Yemen, as a developing country, introduced Internet services in September 1996. The present study attempts to evaluate Internet services in Yemen from inception up to the end of 1998. The study also hopes to find, among other things, how well and how widely the Internet is used in Yemen and to what extent Yemen can benefit from it, and how Yemen participates in the information highway. A questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting data. The homepages hosted at the Tele-Yemen (ISP) Server were scanned and certain criteria were used for their evaluation. The study was able to pinpoint the problems faced by Yemeni users of the Internet, the constraints confronting its diffusion in Yemen and the profits gained by subscribers. The study came up with several suggestions and recommendations that the two authors hope will provide a basis for assessing the prospects for the future of the Internet in Yemen.     

“It-Getting” in the Colbert Nation Online Forum

Previous experimental research that has found that college students exposed to a clip of the popular Comedy Central program entitled The Colbert Report were unable to distinguish its satirical intent from its stated content. To further investigate whether the show's viewers consume The Colbert Report as a satire of conservative television or construe it as a sincere expression of conservative sentiment, the present study examines the content of the program's online discussion forum. Forum posts reflect a diversity of responses to Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report, many of them recognizing the ironic qualities of the show and its host.     

Isolation of cells for selective treatment and analysis using a magnetic microfluidic chip

This study describes the development and testing of a magnetic microfluidic chip (MMC) for trapping and isolating cells tagged with superparamagnetic beads (SPBs) in a microfluidic environment for selective treatment and analysis. The trapping and isolation are done in two separate steps; first, the trapping of the tagged cells in a main channel is achieved by soft ferromagnetic disks and second, the transportation of the cells into side chambers for isolation is executed by tapered conductive paths made of Gold (Au). Numerical simulations were performed to analyze the magnetic flux and force distributions of the disks and conducting paths, for trapping and transporting SPBs. The MMC was fabricated using standard microfabrication processes. Experiments were performed with E. coli (K12 strand) tagged with 2.8 μm SPBs. The results showed that E. coli can be separated from a sample solution by trapping them at the disk sites, and then isolated into chambers by transporting them along the tapered conducting paths. Once the E. coli was trapped inside the side chambers, two selective treatments were performed. In one chamber, a solution with minimal nutrition content was added and, in another chamber, a solution with essential nutrition was added. The results showed that the growth of bacteria cultured in the second chamber containing nutrient was significantly higher, demonstrating that the E. coli was not affected by the magnetically driven transportation and the feasibility of performing different treatments on selectively isolated cells on a single microfluidic platform.     

Effective consultants: a conceptual framework for helping school systems achieve systemic reform

A growing number of organisations – universities, non-profits, independent consultants – are emerging as partners to school systems pursuing systemic improvement. This proliferation invites questions probing the interaction between school systems and their consulting partners. Drawing on a cross-disciplinary review of literature, this theoretical paper (1) explores the processes and strategies used by consulting organisations as partners to school systems and (2) proposes a conceptual framework as a starting point for implementation and evaluation of effective consulting for systemic improvement.     

适度运动对摄入高能饲料大鼠T淋巴细胞亚群免疫的影响

以SD大鼠为实验动物,通过8 w的高能饲料摄入和4 w的运动锻炼后,检测其血清总蛋白、白蛋白含量,外周血CD3 细胞数量、CD4 、CD8 T细胞百分比的变化,来研究适度运动锻炼对高能饲料摄入动物免疫功能的影响。结果显示:适度运动锻炼明显提高CD3 T细胞数量,使CD4 T细胞百分比从55.2%-56.6%迅速上升到62.6%-63.0%,使高能饲料摄入组的CD8 T细胞百分比从56.2%极显著地下降到42.2%,从而使运动组的CD4 /CD8 的比值(1.49±0.10)显著高于对照组(1.01±0.07),表明适度运动锻炼具有显著促进正相免疫调节的作用。     

Romanian Private Higher Education Viewed from a Neo‐institutionalist Perspective

Following a rapid overview of the genesis of private higher education in Romania after the Revolution of December 1989, the author proceeds to analyse the phenomenon in terms of John Meyer's neo‐institutionalist perspective. Citing, in particular, Meyer's theses regarding the isomorphism of organizations with their respective environments, she credits much of the early success of private Romanian higher education institutions in getting started to their close copying of the structure, offerings, and procedures of public higher education in addition to unsatisfied public demand for higher education. She further shows how private higher education institutions have adapted to the requirements of accreditation and state funding possibilities. She fears, however, that the continuing demographic downturn in Romania along with the creation of extra tuition fee‐paying openings at the public universities may finally doom private higher education.