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Abstract—This paper discusses the need for academia to be more responsive to the needs of students and society. The slow speed of change in academia is causing our educational programs to lose value. Technology has been advancing at an exponential rate for decades, yet academia changes at almost glacial speed. While the example used herein (engineering, and in particular aerospace engineering) is one familiar to the author, the ideas in this paper may well apply to all academic disciplines, including Science and Liberal Arts. The problems are due to rapid changes in technology, inflated bureaucracies at universities, the emphasis on revenue and research, and limits to human learning. There is no question that this is the Information Age, yet academia has not adjusted to this dramatic new world. Students need to understand this and be pro-active to prepare themselves for the future and choose the

The Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) is an autonomous not-for-profit organization established in 1993 with a mission to foster sustainable growth and development in Uganda through advancement of research –based knowledge and policy analysis. Since its inception, the EPRC has made significant contributions to national and regional policy formulation and implementation in the Republic of Uganda and throughout East Africa. The Centre has also contributed to national and international development processes through intellectual policy discourse and capacity strengthening for policy analysis, design and management. The EPRC envisions itself as a Centre of excellence that is capable of maintaining a competitive edge in providing national leadership in intellectual economic policy discourse, through timely research-based contribution to policy processes. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Econo...

We would like to thank the following people for their contributions to the publication of this Handbook. Jenny Ericson for general project oversight. Karen Murphy, Fred Wetzel, Bill Leenhouts, and Karen Phillips for their numerous reviews of the document and resulting edits. Mara Weisenberger for proofreading and editing the document and supplying photos. Sue Wilder for gathering information on fire and invasive species policy. Karen Miranda Gleason and Kevin Kilbride for providing background information. Brian McManus, Chris Pease, Art Latterell and Andy Loranger for their continued support of the project and help in moving the project to completion. Aaron Fester for editing the document to make it more accessible to the field. Mark Newcastle for layout, format and design. The compilation and synthesis of information and the final production of this Handbook was supported by funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Refuge System, Branch of

Abstract: A longitudinal case-study of emotion and sport performance is used to illustrate findings of a larger interview study conducted with 12 elite (World top ten) individual sport athletes. Although athletes ' experiences were partially supportive of current theoretical standpoints, optimal states proved dynamic and related to personal, situational and social variables. Further information, gath-ered using more ethnographic approaches, will then be considered. The limitations of a reliance on coded interview data as a meaningful tool with which to explore athletes ' experiences will be discussed in relation to the featured athlete. The existence of multiple interpretations of the athlete's story, problematises the assumption that rigorous methods, as conventionally defined, can guarantee objectivity and discover a single truth. Questions are asked of the reader regarding: the veracity of accepted approaches to the collection and presentation of data; the benefits...

The main objective of this study was to explore the determination of commercial vehicle driver attitudes and the effect of these attitudes on driving performance, job satisfaction, and turnover. It was hypothesized that if a relationship is found, it may then be worthwhile to select applicants with the highest potential for good work habits and company loyalty. Previous research was reviewed to help define measures of trust, optimism, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, intent to turnover, and commitment to work. Productivity measures included miles driven, out-of-route percentage, late deliveries, and accidents. Optimism and trust measures were obtained over a two month time period from 584 new drivers from a national trucking company. Turnover of these drivers was measured four months later. The drivers still with the company were sent a second survey to obtain the additional job-related measures. At the same time, productivity measures for these drivers were obtained fro...

Table of Contents: •Overview by Gerald C. Nelson •Agricultural Science and Technology Needs for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation by Rudy Rabbinge •Reducing Methane Emissions from Irrigated Rice by Reiner Wassmann, Yasukazu Hosen, and Kay Sumfleth •Direct and Indirect Mitigation Through Tree and Soil Management by Brent M. Swallow and Meine van Noordwijk •The Potential for Soil Carbon Sequestration by Rattan Lal •Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Livestock Systems by M. Herrero and P. K. Thornton •The Role of Nutrient Management in Mitigation by Helen C. Flynn •Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Methodologies for Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use by Sean Smukler and Cheryl Palm •Synergies Among Mitigation, Adaptation, and Sustainable Development by Pete Smith •The Importance of Property Rights in Climate Change Mitigation by Helen Markelova and Ruth Meinzen-Dick •The Important Role of Extension Systems by Kristin E. Davis •Adaptation to Climate Change: Hou...

The authors wish thank staff of MoFEP, MoTI and MoFA who provided valuable insights for the preparation of this paper. Our thanks, in particularly, goes to Mr. Lambert Abusah of MoFA for providing us with many sector related documents and data. We also wish to thank development partners for providing information on various issues. Our interactions with Mr. Claude Maerten, EU Ambassador / Head of Delegation to Ghana also proved useful. Mr. Masato Hayashikawa of the OECD provided useful comments on an earlier draft. We acknowledge very good research assistance from Louis Hodey, Godson Korbla Aloryito and Theophilus Eyram Kwami. Any errors and omissions

Abstract: We intend this paper to be read as an inter-text between selected FQS articles, which in one way or another engage in the identity politics of qualitative research, and the broader discussion of quality in the social sciences. Subjecting those texts to a discursive investigation, we highlight how the semantic scope of what is called "qualitative research " is decisively delimited by the positivist associations of "good research". Our overall aim is to take issue with two binaries that are commonly employed by qualitative researchers and thus collide with the evolution of creative/aesthetic science. Simultaneously, however, we seek to enliven qualitative research by providing an (ancient and thus marginal) understanding of research and of approaches that are still outside the prevailing canon. To this end, we start by investigating the binary between quantitative and qualitative research that is perpetually reified as our colleagues invoke the positivist...

Abstract: Complementarity between quantitative and qualitative methods often implies that quali-tative methods are a step toward quantitative precision or that quantitative and qualitative methods provide mutually validating "triangulation. " However, there also is unacknowledged quantification within the type of analytic induction that is considered pivotal in qualitative thinking. We attempt to justify this claim and present a form of phenomenological analysis that invokes numeric algorithms. Numerically aided phenomenology is a procedure for systematically describing categories (kinds, or types) of lived experience within a set of experiential narratives. In a comparative reading, recurrent meaning expressions are identified and paraphrased. Then judgments about their presence or absence are used to create matrices representing the profiles of meanings expressed in each narrative. Finally, cluster analytic algorithms are used to group these experiential narratives accor...

In this paper we assess the reading preference for marketing journals by deriving a journal utility scale based on click responses to table of contents postings to the ELMAR virtual community. Use of ELMAR data provides a unique window into journal importance, allowing us to look at table of contents reading behavior rather than citing behavior or attitudinal constructs as has been the case in previous studies. At the time of the study, there were more than 5,100 ELMAR subscribers, easily making this the largest journal ranking study ever undertaken. The external validity of our sample is high since ELMAR subscribers include a high percentage of the population of those interested in scholarly research in marketing. Our results are based on actual choice behavior of subscribers as they simply decide what tables of contents to read. The list of journals included in the study contains 165 different titles posted during the study period, which spanned a year. During that period there we...

In everyday life, it is rare that one is called upon to identify a letter completely,isolated from,all other stimuli. Yet much,of visual,research centers,around,such,experiments.,Learning,how,one identifies a single letter is, of course relevant to understanding how words, sentences, paragraphs, etc. are interpreted. However, little is known about why nearby,letters interfere with,the recognition,of a,single letter within,the group. The crowding effect, is much

This paper presents Photo Table Of Contents (PhotoTOC), a system that helps users find digital photographs in their own collection of photographs. PhotoTOC is a browsing user interface that uses an overview+detail design. The detail view is a temporally ordered list of all of the user's photographs. The overview of the user's collection is automatically generated by an image clustering algorithm, which clusters on the creation time and the color of the photographs. PhotoTOC was tested on users' own photographs against three other browsers. Searching for images with PhotoTOC was subjectively rated easier than all of the other browsers. This result shows that automatic organization of personal photographs facilitates efficient and satisfying search.

This paper briefly examines the rationale for creating a database on labour market reforms and looks at the value-added of LABREF (Labour Market Reforms Database) compared to existing datasets. After a description of the database and the information contained therein, the paper provides an overview of reforms enacted by EU Member States in 2000-2006. Exploiting the qualitative character of the information provided by LABREF, the paper builds simple indicators of reform intensity and attempts a characterisation of the reform strategies implemented by the Member States in 2004. The database provides a chronology of policy measures enacted. This is used to quantify the lags with which these measures influence the participation rate of specific target groups. A tentative evaluation of their impact on the older workers ’ activity rate is also provided.

Although recommendations exist for determining qualitative sample sizes, the literature appears to contain few instances of research on the topic. Practical guidance is needed for determining sample sizes to conduct rigorous qualitative research, to develop proposals, and to budget resources. The purpose of this article is to describe qualitative sample size and sampling practices within published studies in education and the health sciences by research design: case study, ethnography, grounded theory methodology, narrative inquiry, and phenomenology. I analyzed the 51 most highly cited studies using predetermined content categories and noteworthy sampling characteristics that emerged. In brief, the findings revealed a mean sample size of 87. Less than half of the studies identified a sampling strategy. I include a description of findings by approach and recommendations for sampling to assist methodologists, reviewers, program officers, graduate students, and other qualitative resea...

i Acknowledgements v Glossary vi Chapter I: Introduction 1 Problem Statement 1 Background 4 Purpose and Significance 5 Nature of Study 6 Chapter II: Theoretical Grounding 7 Literature Review 7 Evolution of the Model 16 Study at St. John's College 16 Contact with Communities of Scholars and Practitioners 18 Theoretical Works in the Physical Sciences 20 Nonlinear Dynamics 22 Participating in Groups 23 Meeting Clients' Needs 23 Self-Organizing in Human Systems 27 Internal Dynamics 27 Continuous Development 27 Characteristics of Self-Organizing Process 28 Stability 29 Coherence 30 Conditions for Self-Organizing in Human Systems 34 Container 34 Significant Differences 36 Transforming Exchange 38 Interaction of the Three Conditions 40 Self-Organizing and the CDE Model 45 Summary 49 Chapter III: Method 50 Research in Complex Adaptive Systems 50 Results Reversal 55 Design of the Study 57 Sample 60 Intervention Designs 61 Data Collection 64 Data Analysis 64 Ethical Treatment of Human...

The design of Object Based Systems, which map object oriented–, semantic– or knowledge representation models to an underlying database kernel system, in order to close the gap between application and database systems, are currently considered as candidates for future database architectures. KRISYS (University of Kaiserslautern) and COCOON (ETH Zurich), as two prototype systems following this kernel architecture approach, will be compared in this report. We give an overview of the underlying models and query languages as well as their mapping approaches and their processing models, compare the corresponding features, and discuss differences in both systems.