Information Literacy and the Evolving MBA Degree

MBA program curriculums have been the target of criticism since the financial scandals of the early 2000s, with the main focus being that many programs sacrificed the teaching of useful, real world skills in favor of impractical scientific research, while also neglecting areas such as ethics and social responsibility. The financial collapse prompted many MBA programs to implement reforms which include adding experiential learning programs among other changes. These reforms provide opportunities for librarians to introduce or increase information literacy components in the programs. The current state of MBA information literacy practices is discussed, with several initiatives highlighted and some new approaches suggested.     

Humility & Humiliation: The Transformation of Franciscan Humour,c.1210–1310

Humiliation and self-ridicule worked as surprisingly important tools of evangelical outreach in the first decades of the Franciscan Order (c.1210–50). According to early Franciscan texts such as the Assisi Compilation (c.1240s) and Jordan of Giano’s Chronica (c.1260), St Francis and his earliest followers sought to win supporters by stripping naked in public, mocking learned preachers and ludicrously imitating animals. Yet within a few decades of the founder’s death this type of humour had been erased from Franciscan texts. Chronicles now omitted references to Francis’s laughter, while humiliating behaviour came to be condemned by Franciscan preachers, chroniclers and theologians alike. From being a means of undermining dignity and reason, joking was now instead celebrated as a tool of upholding these very same values. Describing the nature of this shift, and contextualising it within the evolving institutional priorities of the Franciscans under the leadership of Bonaventure (d.1274), this article will complicate debates about the development of medieval humour, while also reflecting on laughter’s role as a means of resistance to the significant social and cultural upheavals of the 1200s.     

Book reviews

^cAbd al‐Malik b. Habib. Kitāb al‐Ta'rij (La historia). Edición y estudio por Jorge Aguadé. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Instituto de Cooperación con el Mundo Arabe, 1991 (Fuentes Arabico‐Hispanas, 1). 163 + 224 pp. [Arabic title: Kltāb al‐Ta'tikh]

Kedar, Benjamin Z., ed. The Horns of Hattin. Jerusalem and London: Yad Izhak Ben‐Zvi, Israel Exploration Society and Variorum 1992. 368 pp., 12 plates; $74.75 (cloth).

Köprülü, Mehmed Fuad. The Seljuks of Anatolia: Their History and Culture According to Local Muslim Sources. Translated and edited by Gary Leiser. Salt Lake City: University of Utah, 1992. xi +101 pp., $22.00 (cloth).

Cameron, Averil and Conrad, Lawrence I., eds. The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East: Problems in the Literary Source Material (Papers in the First Workshop on Late Antiquity and Early Islam). Princeton: The Darwin Press, 1992. xiv + 428pp., 12 plates; $29.25 (cloth).

Vereno, Ingolf. Studien zum ältesten alchemistischen Schrifttum. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1992 (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, 155). 414pp.

Tolan, John. Petrus Alfonsi and his Medieval Readers. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1993. xv + 288pp., $34.95 (cloth), $16.95 (paper).

Lassner, Jacob. Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1994. 281 pp., $19.95 (paper), $49.95 (cloth).

Menocal, María Rosa. Shards of Love: Exile and the Origins of the Lyric. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1994. xv + 295pp., $34.95 (cloth), $14.95 (paper).

Massignon, Louis. The Passion of al‐Hallāj, Mystic and Martyr of Islam. Translated and edited by Herbert Mason. Abridged edition, Bollingen Series XCVIII. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. xxxi + 293pp.

Viguera Molins, Maria Jesús. El Islam en Aragón. Saragossa: Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada, 1995 (Colección “Mariano de Pano y Ruata”, 9), 174 pp., 182 ills. in colour, maps, diagrams, charts etc No price stated.     

Using the Principles of BIO2010 to Develop an Introductory,Interdisciplinary Course for Biology Students

Modern biological sciences require practitioners to have increasing levels of knowledge, competence, and skills in mathematics and programming. A recent review of the science curriculum at the University of Queensland, a large, research-intensive institution in Australia, resulted in the development of a more quantitatively rigorous undergraduate program. Inspired by the National Research Council''s BIO2010 report, a new interdisciplinary first-year course (SCIE1000) was created, incorporating mathematics and computer programming in the context of modern science. In this study, the perceptions of biological science students enrolled in SCIE1000 in 2008 and 2009 are measured. Analysis indicates that, as a result of taking SCIE1000, biological science students gained a positive appreciation of the importance of mathematics in their discipline. However, the data revealed that SCIE1000 did not contribute positively to gains in appreciation for computing and only slightly influenced students'' motivation to enroll in upper-level quantitative-based courses. Further comparisons between 2008 and 2009 demonstrated the positive effect of using genuine, real-world contexts to enhance student perceptions toward the relevance of mathematics. The results support the recommendation from BIO2010 that mathematics should be introduced to biology students in first-year courses using real-world examples, while challenging the benefits of introducing programming in first-year courses.     

Measurement of total energy expenditure by the doubly labelled water method in professional soccer players

To determine the daily energy requirements of professional soccer players during a competitive season, we measured total energy expenditure in seven players (age 22.1+/-1.9 years, height 1.75+/-0.05 m, mass 69.8+/-4.7 kg; mean +/- s) using the doubly labelled water method. Energy intake was simultaneously estimated from 7 day self-report dietary records. Mean total energy expenditure and energy intake were 14.8+/-1.7 MJ x day(-1) (3532+/-408 kcal x day(-1)) and 13.0+/-2.4 MJ x day(-1) (3113+/-581 kcal x day(-1)), respectively. Although there was a significant difference between total energy expenditure and energy intake (P < 0.01), there was a strong relationship between the two (r= 0.893, P< 0.01). Basal metabolic rate and recommended energy allowance calculated from the Recommended Dietary Allowances for the Japanese were 7.0+/-0.3 MJ x day(-1) (1683+/-81 kcal x day(-1)) and 15.6+/-0.8 MJ x day(-1) (3739+/-180 kcal x day(-1)), respectively. A physical activity level (total energy expenditure/ basal metabolic rate) of 2.11+/-0.30 indicated that, during the competitive season, professional soccer players undertake much routine physical activity, similar to that of competitive athletes during moderate training. Energy intake estimated using dietary records was under-reported, suggesting that its calculation from these data does not predict energy expenditure in soccer players.     

Analysis of performance in orienteering with treadmill tests and physiological field tests using a differential global positioning system

The aim of this study was to determine the physiological responses to orienteering by examining the interrelationships between the information provided by a differential global positioning system (dGPS) about an orienteer's route, speed and orienteering mistakes, portable metabolic gas analyser data during orienteering and data from incremental treadmill tests. Ten male orienteers completed a treadmill threshold test and a field test; the latter was performed on a 4.3 km course on mixed terrain with nine checkpoints. The anaerobic threshold, threshold of decompensated metabolic acidosis, respiratory exchange ratio, onset of blood lactate accumulation and peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) were determined from the treadmill test. Time to complete the course, total distance covered, mean speed, distance and timing of orienteering mistakes, mean oxygen uptake, mean relative heart rate, mean respiratory exchange ratio and mean running economy were computed from the dGPS data and metabolic gas analyser data. Correlation analyses showed a relationship between a high anaerobic threshold and few orienteering mistakes (r = - 0.64, P < 0.05). A high threshold of decompensated metabolic acidosis and VO2peak were related to a fast overall time (r = -0.70 to -0.72, P < 0.05) and high running speed (r = 0.64 to 0.79, P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively), and were thus the best predictors of performance.     

Estimation of thigh muscle and adipose tissue volume using magnetic resonance imaging and anthropometry

Thigh muscle volume is a useful determinant of functional fitness. However, anthropometric prediction of muscle content is influenced by the variability of adipose tissue accumulation. The aims of this study were to predict thigh muscle and adipose tissue volumes from anthropometry and to assess the validity of the method by examining the various components of the measurements and the assumptions involved. The 19 participants (9 men, 10 women; age 23-49 years) varied in adiposity. They all underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the upper leg and the eight men and two women with the lowest adiposity underwent detailed anthropometry involving girths and skinfolds. Using MRI as the reference method, muscle volume was predictedfrom anthropometry using a circular concentric model, and the assumptions inherent in the method were tested further using the MRI data alone. Muscle volume was best predicted by anthropometry in the 10 leanest participants using a five-slice truncated cone model that overestimated the mean MRI value by 30% (R2 = 0.95; standard error of estimate = 288 cm3; P < 0.001). A single skinfold plus girth measurement at the mid-thigh almost matched its predictive ability, but with an increased bias. Measurements of leg circumference by means of the two techniques agreed well. The assumption of a circular cross-section was valid. In contrast, the agreement between skinfold thickness measured by caliper and superficial adipose tissue thickness by MRI was poor, contributing to the scatter of fat and lean area comparisons. An anterior skinfold thickness measurement underestimated the area of superficial adipose tissue at that level, particularly at the most proximal and distal sites. Although these limitations increase the uncertainties of muscle volume determination by anthropometry, they do not prevent its valid prediction in leaner individuals. The prediction of superficial adipose tissue was poorer.     

Conservation in the United Kingdom

British conservation is respected around the world for its excellence, based on a tradition of caring for heritage material, backed up by high‐quality training and research. This paper charts the origins and development of the conservation profession in the United Kingdom and provides a comprehensive overview of the number, location and variety of conservation specialists currently working in the UK. It looks at those working in both the public and private sectors. The findings are based on a number of surveys conducted by the professional bodies and by government agencies such as the Museums & Galleries Commission (MGC). Most of the information relates only to museums, but the most recent survey of conservators by the MGC also looked at provision in libraries and archives.