bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Signed English in the classroom, IV. Aspects of children's speech and sign
Authors: Wood Heather , Wood David 
Published: March 2007

This paper explores the use of Signed English by children and their teachers in classroom conversations. Analyses of children's loquacity in sign (measured by their mean length of turn) are compared with previous analyses of the children's loquacity in speech to reveal high correlations between the two. Children's length of utterance in both speech and sign increased with age. However, their reliance on sign, relative to speech, declined with both age and IQ. The implications of these findings for the efficacy of Signed English as a vehicle for assisting the acquisition of spoken English are discussed. Analyses of the relations between teaching style and children's use of sign parallel those found between the same measures of teacher language and children's use of speech, implying that children may use speech and sign to perform similar communicative functions. Whether children communicate in words alone or in signs and speech, their levels of initiative, loquacity and misunderstanding relate to the manner in which teachers manage discourse. No evidence was found to suggest that teachers react differently to children as a function of their pupils' relative use of speech and sign. Morpho-syntactic analyses of the speech and sign of a sub-group of children reveal marked similarities with the 'input' they receive from teachers on two measures. The relative use of 57 morpho-syntactic categories by teachers and children were highly correlated as were the relative frequencies with which a sub-set of 28 categories were spoken, signed or both spoken and signed. The close correspondence between the content and expression of teachers' and children's communication implies that pupils may be acquiring a system of communication similar to that being displayed by their partners in communication. The implications of these results for theoretical debates about the 'impossibility' of the task of acquiring speech/sign hybrids are discussed. The paper ends with a general discussion of the theoretical and educational implications of the findings presented in the whole series of papers on the use of Signed English in the classroom (S.E.C. I-IV).
The Community Approach of a Psycho-Educational Service in Israel
Authors: Zaki Moshe 
Published: March 2007

Tirat Carmel is a community of 17,000 inhabitants, composed of ethnic groups with a culture dissonant to that of Israel: It is a geographically and socially 'closed' community - thus 'school' is the main agent of socialization for improving social change. The Psycho-Educational Service has adopted a community approach in school psychology: general educational problems are diagnosed by an inter disiplinary professional staff, and systematically resolved through a com munity education program: Maladjustment in the early years of elementary school is the main educa tional problem of Tirat Carmel, characterizing culturally deprived settlements in Israel. This phenomenon has been tackled through a structured and syste matic preventive model starting from early childhood, and has been signifi cantly reduced.
Manpower forecasting and planning
Authors: Slater Margaret 
Published: March 2007

An informal short-term investigation of manpower fore casting (at a national level) in professions and fields other than information science was undertaken for the British Library R&D Department (BLRDD). The aim was to exam ine the strategies, methodologies, data gathering practises and typical inputs to other manpower forecasting systems and models, which could be applicable in the library/information field. A serious attempt to come to grips with forecasting and supply and demand ratio balance is obviously necessary in the U.K. in this field. Over-supply of library/information workers in a period of economic stringency; organisational marginality of the profession from the viewpoint of many employers; consequences of over-optismistic forecasting of future demand during the prosperous late 60's, all underline this need. The two rather different disciplines of national UK economic and labour force "prediction" and of company manpower planning are outside the scope of this study. Total labour force projections do have relevance as influences on, and scenarios for, the library scene. Company manpower planning would obviously become relevant at the implement ation stage of any emergent national policies for library/ information manpower. This paper is primarily concerned with the secondary level of manpower planning and forecast ing - for specific occupations or industries, on a nation-wide basis.
Data protection in the United Kingdom: Part 1
Authors: Crook Anne 
Published: March 2007

The United Kingdom Government is about to enact legisla tion for data protection. It is intended that this will safeguard the pnvacy of the individual which is seen to be threatened by the increasing use and capabilities of computerised personal information systems. There are also fears that the British computer and data processing industries will be at a disad vantage when competing in the international market without legislation equivalent to that already operating in other coun tries. The legislation will enable the UK to ratify the Council of Europe Data Protection Convention and to comply with the OECD Guidelines on Transborder Data Flow. Data protection is a valuable example of the interaction of information technology and society. This paper presents an overview of the issues involved. It examines what is meant by data privacy and how that privacy may be infringed by the use of both computerised and manual record systems. The impact of technology on the privacy problem is descnbed, including linkage of computer systems and the contribution of computer security. The need for legislation is discussed, both within the context of the international situation and of the early attempts at domestic legislation.
The use and availability of occupational health information: results of a study
Authors: Wood Frances E. 
Published: March 2007

The aims of this study were to identify requirements for occupational health information and ways in which the provi sion of, and access to, such information could be improved in the United Kingdom. Structured interviews with professional staff working in several occupational health professions and with general practi tioners were used to establish the pattern of information use and to elicit views on information provision. Literature searches were undertaken and some important organisations visited. Respondents preferred to ask for information rather than seek it in publications but sometimes they did not know where to ask. About two thirds of the occupational 'health staff worked in organisations with libraries. Reading primary jour nals was the main way in which respondents kept up to date. Use of abstracting publications, indexing publications and online services was low. There was little use of, or enthusiasm for, Prestel amongst the respondents. Toxicological information presented problems for many of the respondents. More effective information handling could be promoted by: inclusion of the use of information sources in basic and con tinuing professional education, provision of guides to sources of information and improved alerting services.
VISOR (Victorian Industry Support Organizations Register) : information in practice
Authors: Prior Vernon 
Published: March 2007

The information needs of industry and business are seldom adequately covered by existing directories, many of which are poorly indexed, less than comprehensive, or designed for a different clientele. Furthermore, managers in small to medium-sized enterpnses are frequently unaware of how much help is available to them. They often lack the time or the expertise to seek relevant sources of assistance and advice. VISOR, a comprehensive directory of assistance available to industry and business, is an attempt to remedy this situation in Victoria. It embodies several techniques designed to save the busy manager's time and to offer both the means to evaluate the services provided and to facilitate access to the most appropnate individuals within the organization. VISOR has been adopted by the Commonwealth Govern ment's National Industry Extension Service as the model for a national information system of this kind.
The literature of demography; its characteristics and changes over time
Authors: Peritz Bluma C. 
Published: March 2007

Changes in the characteristics of the demographic literature between 1964 and 1984 are reviewed by means of a statistical comparison of the entries in Population Index for the subjects pertaining to population movements: fertility, (including fertil ity controls), mortality, nuptiality and migrations. The number of studies on interrelations between demography and economic or non-economic variables declined drastically. A similar de cline in historical demography (and possibly also in regional studies) may be due to changes in editonal policy. The share of mortality studies from developing countnes increased consider ably. The percentage of publications in English is increasing. There was a marked growth in the percentage of reports of various kinds, matched by a sharp drop in the number of books published. Tentative explanations for some of these seemingly surpnsing trends are offered; they involve the con traceptive revolution, the development of epidemiological re search, the improvement in the quality of vital data in develop ing countries, the nsing cost of book production, and the increasing use of the English language in foreign journals.
Minimizing information overload: the ranking of electronic messages
Authors: Losee Robert M. 
Published: March 2007

The decision to examine a message at a particular point in time should be made rationally and economically if the mes sage recipient is to operate efficiently. Electronic message distribution systems, electronic bulletin board systems, and telephone systems capable of leaving digitized voice messages can contribute to "information overload", defined as the eco nomic loss associated with the examination of a number of non- or less-relevant messages. Our model provides a formal method for minimizing expected information overload. The proposed adaptive model predicts the usefulness of a message based on the available message features and may be useful to rank messages by expected importance or economic worth. The assumptions of binary and two Poisson indepen dent probabilistic distributions of message feature frequencies are examined, and methods of incorporating these distributions into the ranking model are examined. Ways to incorporate user supplied relevance feedback are suggested. Analytic perfor mance measures are proposed to predict system quality. Other message handling models, including rule based expert systems, are seen as special cases of the model. The performance is given for a set of UNIX shell programs which rank USENET messages. Problems with the use of this formal model are examined, and areas for future research are suggested.
Information design and information science: a new alliance?
Authors: Orna Elizabeth , Stevens Graham 
Published: March 2007

Information design is broadly defined as everything that we do to make ideas visible so that others can make them their own and use them for their own purposes The history of human efforts to "store information beyond the brain" sug gests that there is common ground between those who today pursue the separate specialisms of managing information and designing information Examination of what information designers actually do leads to the conclusion that they and information professionals could usefully work together, and make a "benevolent col onisation" of new areas. Their cooperation could help, in particular, to rectify many of the difficulties which modern information technology puts in the way of information users Some first ideas are advanced for co-operation, and for ini tiatives in integrated education
The use of microcomputers in Nigerian libraries and information centres
Authors: Adeniran O.R. , Adigun T.A. , Okoh M.I. 
Published: March 2007

This study provides information on microcomputer resources scatter and reveals some of the uses in Nigerian libraries. Data collection was by structured questionnaire and follow-up interview. Of the 157 questionnaires sent out, 53% useable returns were recorded. The returns scatter covered twenty of the then twenty-one states in the Federation. Results revealed that on the average, one out of every two libraries has a microcomputer in Nigeria. The total of 43 microcomputers in Nigerian libraries is spread over 22 such centres. A few libraries have computerised some traditional functions such as cataloguing and indexing. Computers are used mostly for administrative functions such as word process ing. IBM and its compatibles, and Epson brands have been more popular in the spread of microcomputers and printers in Nigeria. Recommendations emanating from the study include Aca demic libraries need not wait until they acquire minis or mainframe computers before they computerise. Using a net work of microcomputers with a super microcomputer as a server can be very useful. The running cost of such a system can be sustained by an average budget. Research libraries that give in-depth and useful service to their patrons have been more successful in their automation projects. To remain rele vant in the scheme of things, research libraries must continue to rely on computer power to enable them to provide useful services. Public libraries in developing economies should move with the times and improve their services by providing pack aged and simplified research results on health, agriculture and socio-economics for true development among the grass- root people they serve. To be able to carry this out effectively, they would certainly need the services of computers. IBM microcomputers and their compatibles have come to stay Libraries should consider acquiring these for their automation projects. Networking them is the in-thing now—a better op tion than acquiring a mini or a mainframe computer. Libraries automating their services should seek advice from other li braries that have automated at every stage of their computeri sation projects in order to avoid unnecessary mistakes and waste of scarce funds.
Ecology and Society: a Lesson for Organization Theory, from the Logic of Economics
Authors: Robins James A. 
Published: March 2007

Recent work on organizational ecology has helped to clarify the discussion of organiza tion-environment relations by providing a precise analytical distinction between the organization and its environment. However, the clarity of the distinction also exposes serious problems in the population perspective on organizations. The fact that ecology has been wedded to evolutionism cripples it in dealing with some of the central issues of organizational analysis. This paper looks at ways in which the precision of ecology may be combined with social and economic theories other than evolutionism to provide a powerful analysis of the organization in its social environment. Neoclassical economics serves as a model for the sort of theory that can be used to replace evolutionism. The paper concludes by examining the underlying axiomatic structure of neoclassical economics and outlining the general logic required to link ecological and social theories for the purposes of organizational analysis.
The Nature of Managerial Work in the Chinese Enterprise Reforms. A Study of Six Directors
Authors: Boisot Max , Xing Guo Liang  
Published: March 2007

This paper applies a conceptual framework, developed by Boisot (1986), to an analysis of the behaviour of Chinese enterprise managers. In a replication of Mintzberg's 1973 study of US managers, six Chinese enterprise directors were time studied over a period of six days, and the findings analyzed using the framework. It appears that although Chinese enterprise managers in the sample share many behavioural characteristics with their US counterparts, they do so in an institu tional setting that places a different construction on their behaviour. In particular, the analysis suggests that the Chinese firm is not available to them as an extension of their managerial prerogative and, if anything, is institutionally designed to constrain it. In such a setting, opportunistic behaviour expresses a personal survival strategy rather than a quest for personal gain.
Publishing problems in Kenya
Authors: Gundu George S. 
Published: March 2007

Reviews the historical background and present state of publishing in Kenya, including the role of both indigenous and foreign firms. The main problems include: a high rate of illiteracy; lack of the reading habit; lack of local writers; language problems; lack of finance; high production costs ; marketing and distribution problems; lack of expertise, and inadequate publicity. These can affect both indigenous and other publishers, who should cooperate more. Despite the problems, Kenyan publishing has a future.
Nicotine-induced grooming: a possible dopaminergic and/or cholinergic mechanism
Authors: Zarrindast M.R. , Sedaghati F. , Borzouyeh F. 
Published: March 2007

The ability of nicotine, to induce grooming in rats was studied. Grooming was induced by i.p. injection of different doses (0.0675-0.5 mg/kg) of nicotine to rats. The effect was dose-dependent. However, the response was decreased with increasing doses of the drug from 0.25-0.5 mg/kg. Administration of the dopamine (DA) D 1/D2 receptor agonist apomorphine (0.025-5 mg/kg, i.p.) also caused grooming in a dose-dependent manner. High doses of apomorphine (0.1-0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) also induced a lower degree of response. Combination of a low dose of nicotine (0.0675 mg/kg) with different doses of apomorphine did not show any interaction. However, there was an interaction between a high dose of nicotine and apomorphine. Thus, combination of a higher dose of nicotine (0.125 mg/kg) with apomorphine, reduced apomorphine-induced grooming. The muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine (5 and 10 mg/kg), peripheral nicotinic receptor antagonist hexamethonium (5 and 10 mg/kg), central nicotinic receptor antagonist mecamylamine (1 and 3 mg/kg) and D1 DA receptor antagonist SCH23390 (0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg) all decreased the response to nicotine. Atropine, mecamylamine and SCH23390 by themselves reduced spontaneous grooming. It is concluded that nicotine elicits grooming indirectly through a possible D1 dopaminergic mechanism. However, muscarinic and nicotinic cholinergic mechanism(s) may be involved.
Women's Liberation and Class Struggle
Authors: Bambirra Vania , Krebs Leslie , Bayer Barbara 
Published: March 2007

This article is a synthesis of a lecture given to the Feder ation of Students of the University of Concepcion in October, 1971. The majority of the considerations in this article are actually part of a consensus of people focusing on the problem from a leftist perspective. However, few leftists in Chile, up until now, have been preoccupied with promoting or stimulating serious discussion about the problems of the situation of women in the revolutionary process. For this reason, and considering the relevance of the theme in the process that is now going on in this country, we have brought a discussion of "the woman question"--though we are not specialists in it--to the attention of Punto Final.
Toxic Gases Evolution from Commercial Building Materials under Fire Atmosphere in a Semi-Full-Scale Room
Authors: Morikawa Tokio 
Published: March 2007

Commercial building materials of board type assembled into a box shape, were each independently combusted in a semi-full-scale room along with methanol, which was supplied at a constant rate, under the conditions of forced air supply by blower. Primary toxic gases were CO and acrolein from wood-based materials, and CO and HCN from urethanes. From phenol foams, evolution of CO and other toxic gases was very small. A comparison was made between the evolution of toxic gases from materials assembled in a box shape and also in a crib shape. It was found that the total toxicity, E(C1/C fi), and concentrations of the above toxic gases were much higher for the box shape than for the crib shape.
Thermal and Thermo-Oxidative Degradation of PBO: Determination of Kinetics and Reaction Products
Authors: Nielsen Charles A. , Pierini Peter , Fuh Steve 
Published: March 2007

Poly(para-phenylene- cis-benzobisoxazole), PBO, is a promising thermal and fire resistant material because of its excellent thermal stability, virtual nonflammability (limiting oxygen index = 56), high char yield, and negligible smoke generation [1]. Decomposition reaction products and kinetics were studied to further characterize this material. Chemical changes in the solid film were studied by FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) before and after isothermal heating in vacuum. Decom position was detected at 600°C while little, if any, was observed at 500°C. In other studies using a constant heating rate, released volatiles were identified by FTIR and an electrochemical selective ion probe. Degradation rates in nitrogen (thermal) and air (thermo-oxidative) were de termined by isothermal thermogravimetric analysis (ITGA). Activation ener gies for the thermal and thermo-oxidative degradations were calculated. These results are compared to other thermally resistant polymers. For example, the PBO film decomposition rate is over one hundred times slower than a high- temperature-resistant polyimide (Kapton® H film) in nitrogen, and about two times slower than the polyimide film in air. These findings suggest possible lower rates of combustion, especially in situations where the polymer is decom posed in a locally oxygen starved environment. Finally, an empirical model for the thermo-oxidation of PBO was obtained from the TGA data. Reliable predictions of weight percent remaining are made as a function of time and temperature.
Acute Inhalation Toxicity in Rats Exposed to Thermal Degradation Products of Hydraulic Fluids Type C
Authors: Van Dam J. , Daenens P. , Yerbeken E.K. 
Published: March 2007

The acute inhalation toxicity of the thermal decomposition prod ucts of Hydraulic fluids type C was assessed in rats. These fluids consist of a mixture of water, ethylene glycol, polyalkylene glycol and some minor addi tives. Glissosafe® 610 was used as a model. Animals were exposed for one hour to atmospheres resulting from spraying the fluid on a plate heated to 500 °C, 600 ° C or 700°C. They were followed for fourteen days after exposure following the prescriptions of the Sixth Report of the Safety and Health Commission of the European Community. Additional tests were done to follow the evolution of histological damage at one, two, three, five and seven days after exposure to the different temperatures. These results were compared with some quantitative data of the major decomposition products. No mortality occurred. Only slight and transient respiratory discomfort was noticed during exposure due to the presence of sensory irritating products. The effects on growth were virtually nil, except for some slight initial retardation during the first day post-exposure. Histological damage was most pronounced at a decomposition temperature of 500°C. These results correlated with the quantitative data of the sensory irritating components. Out of this thermal decomposition mixture, formaldehyde seems to contribute most to the toxic ef fects.