The golden thread: educator connectivity as a central pillar in the development of creativity through childhood education. An Irish life history study

This paper presents the narratives of five creative Irish Adults who contributed to the study by sharing their childhood education experiences. The five participants are all of different ages and occupations. All identify themselves as highly creative people and all worked with me over the course of this study to identify how this creativity developed within their engagement with the Irish childhood education system. All excelled with higher education and they share a high degree of success within their careers. Between them, they express their creativity across five key genres. These are: Science, Engineering, The Arts, Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship. Well-developed themes were analysed to identify interrelationships which formed a theoretical framework of core concepts that demonstrate what holds great importance in the lives of these participants for the development of their creativity during childhood education in Ireland. A clear theme of this study was that of connectivity. Connections and relationships matter greatly. The creative journey is joyful and clear where children experience a positive connection with their educator. Conversely, the creative journey is stymied by a lack of connection or by a negative connection. These stand in the way of creative growth, like a big boulder on the child's developmental path. This paper showcases, through the stories of these five research participants, how creativity development is affected by the connection between the child and their educator.     

中国的经济全球化与政治文明民主化的关系

经济全球化挑战的是政治,在经济要求发展的条件下,政治文明的建设更具现实意义.政治文明的首要表现是政治民主化,明确民主的本质含义,分析西方的经济--民主理论,来探索中国现实的经济与民主政治的关系.经济是影响民主建设的重要因素之一,但在中国建国以后的历史中,经济的作用表现得十分微弱.经济全球化的趋势改变了经济的作用力,使得经济发展对民主建设的要求更加积极.但这种作用也是双刃剑,一方面,可能会造成一部分人的政治冷漠,要注重政治民主意识的培养;另一方面,中国在制度上已经实现了民主,但受多种因素影响,现在还处于向现实民主过渡的阶段,经济的发展正为这种过渡提供条件.中国有不同于西方的特殊国情,因此,必须从实际出发,根据中国的现实来进行切实的民主建设,将政府推进和社会自主两种方式结合起来.     

The Influence of Loneliness and Interpersonal Relations on Latina/o Middle School Students’ Wellbeing

This study examined associations of loneliness and relationships (e.g., teacher/student relationships, peer support, and family support) with wellbeing among Latina/o middle school students. A hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that age and loneliness predicted wellbeing; older students and students with high levels of loneliness reported higher wellbeing. The interaction effect between loneliness and peer support suggested that peer support was related with wellbeing only among students high in loneliness. Similarly, the interaction effect between loneliness and family support suggested that family support was associated with wellbeing only among students high in loneliness. Implications for addressing cultural determinants of wellbeing are provided.     

Measures of greatness: A Lotkaian approach to literary authors using OCLC WorldCat

This study examines the productivity, eminence, and impact of literary authors using Lotka's law, a bibliometric approach developed for studying the published output of scientists. Data on literary authors were drawn from two recent surveys that identified and ranked authors who had made the greatest contributions to world literature. Data on the number of records of works by and about selected authors were drawn from OCLC WorldCat in 2007 and 2014. Findings show that the distribution of literary authors followed a pattern consistent with Lotka's law and show that these studies enable one to empirically test subjective rankings of eminent authors. Future examination of distribution of author productivity might include studies based on language, location, and culture.     

Don't they teach that in high school? Examining the high school to college information literacy gap

College librarians express concern over incoming students' information literacy skills and lack of skills preparing them for college-level research. However, it is unclear whether information literacy skills are not being taught at the high school level, whether they are not being retained or transferred as students move on to college, or whether there is a disconnect between the skills taught in high school and those expected of incoming college students. This study explores these questions through a set of parallel surveys sent to a national sample of high school and college librarians. Findings suggest that high school and college librarians agree on the importance of most skills though they vary in their emphasis on their importance, and that information literacy skills are being taught in high school but do not seem to transfer to college. The paper concludes with suggestions for increased communication and collaboration to bridge the high school to college transition.     

Emotional design application to evaluate user impressions of library information desks

To evaluate the quality of service it is critical to know the concepts on which such evaluations are made from the user point of view. Differential semantics was applied in an emotional design framework to identify these concepts, or dimensions, and an equation was devised to discover the influence they have in the acceptance of a service by users. Some 53 users evaluated the tangible elements of 28 library information desks. Five latent concepts emerged from the analysis: modern, welcoming, professional, simple, and accessible. The most influential concepts influencing willingness to interact at library information desks were, in descending order, modernity, professionalism, welcoming environment, and accessibility. Finally, a comparative semantic profile was developed to explore the perception differences between the most and the least desirable information desks. Understanding the concepts that users consider when evaluating information desks and the influence of those concepts on user behavior can help designers improve overall service quality impressions.     

How academic librarians experience evidence-based practice: A grounded theory model

This study explored academic librarians’ experience of evidence-based practice. A better understanding of evidence-based practice from an empirical basis can help fulfill the aims of evidence-based library and information practice to continuously improve practice and make effective, value-adding decisions about library and information services for their clients and communities. This research uses a constructivist grounded theory approach to investigate the question: How do academic librarians experience evidence-based practice? Thirteen Australian academic librarians participated in semi-structured interviews. The study used the methods of constant comparison to create codes and categories towards constructing a new theoretical model of experiencing evidence-based practice in the academic library context. The model consists of six categories of experiences: empowering, intuiting, affirming, connecting, noticing and impacting. This model can provide a platform for developing support for academic librarians andtheir educators by increasing awareness of various mindsets and actions experienced in the workplace context towards facilitating evidence-based information practice.     

论人本理念和自主创新战略下的高校设备管理

在以人为本理念和自主创新战略下,高校设备及其管理呈现出5大特征,即劳动工具性、技术状态发展性、品种多样多变性、配置效益性、占用激励性等5大特征.以此为基础,高校应构建设备管理新体系,在实际运行中应正确处理人与物、数量与品质和结构、重点与一般、效益与规范4对关系.     

Unfolding narrative meaning over time: The contributions of mother–daughter conversations of difficulty on daughter narrative sense-making and well-being

Recent narrative theorizing suggests that humans process their difficult experiences by not only creating stories—called individual narrative sense-making (NSM)—but also by telling those stories with others—called communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM). The present study investigated the relationship between individual and communicated NSM to understand the effects of interpersonal communication on intrapersonal meaning-making and well-being. In this longitudinal, laboratory-based study, 62 mother–daughter pairs wrote and discussed stories of daughters’ difficulty. Findings revealed that CNSM—particularly turn-taking, coherence, and daughters’ perspective-taking—predicted increased positivity in daughters’ stories over time, suggesting that CNSM contributes to “re-authoring” of individual stories. Limited effects emerged for CNSM and well-being. Findings expanded knowledge about the interconnections between intrapersonal and interpersonal communication, and well-being.