Synoptic reference: Introducing a polymathic approach to Reference Services

Studies show that reaching beyond disciplinary boundaries can be an effective method for understanding complex research problems and enriching student learning. However, despite the increased attention given to interdisciplinary thinking in higher education, there is much that remains to be understood about the growing centrality of interdisciplinary practice and its assessment. This paper argues that a new, more robust conceptualization of nonsingular disciplinary thinking must be formulated around the philosophical foundation of synoptics. A critical point when this type of learning can take place is in reference services. The paper begins by outlining the emergence of interdisciplinary inquiry in higher education. After reviewing the literature on interdisciplinarity and noting the lack of scholarship concerning applied synoptics in current library literature, it discusses the ways is which synoptics establishes the foundation for a broader based understanding of knowledge that cultivates and encourages a polymathic perspective for the patron. The study concludes by describing how the concept of critical and integrative interdisciplinary thinking, rooted in the worldview philosophy of synoptics, can apply to the practice of reference services and inquiry-based transactions between the librarian and the learner

Convergent synthesis of a steroidal antiestrogen-mitomycin C hybrid using “click” chemistry

A convergent synthesis of a novel estrogen receptor-targeted drug hybrid was developed based on structures of the potent anti-proliferative mitomycin C and the steroidal anti-estrogen RU 39411. The steroidal antiestrogen was prepared with an azido-triethylene glycoloxy linker while the mitomycin C derivative (porfirimycin) incorporated a complementary 7-N-terminal alkyne. The two components were ligated using the Huisgen [3 + 2] cycloaddition (“click”) reaction. Preliminary biological assays demonstrated that the final hybrid compound retained both potent anti-estrogenic and anti-proliferative activities.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant PHS 5R01 CA 086061-09

Maps of Fisheries Management Zones and Lobster Management Zones

Maps and diagrams of Maine\u27s fisheries management zones and lobster management zones

A kapwa-infused paradigm in teaching Catholic theology/catechesis in a multireligious classroom in the Philippines

The increasing religious diversity in educational space has raised a legitimate question on how Catholic theology/ catechesis must be taught in Philippine Catholic universities given the institutional mandate to educate students “into the faith of the Church through teaching of Christian doctrine in an organic and systematic way” (Wuerl, 2013, 1). On this note, the paper makes reference to “centered plural- ism” (CP), a positional posture espoused by Georgetown University in dealing with this predicament. In an attempt to (re) appropriate CP into local context, there is a need to explore the Filipino conception of self/others as enveloped within the indigenous concept of kapwa. Hereon, the paper finds that CP is not just feasibly suitable in local context but with kapwa's more inclusive description of the relationship of self and others, a CP‐based teaching paradigm in theology/ catechesis is a promising project in the educational scene of the Philippines

2013 Dewey Lecture: College—What Is It Good For?

In this 2013 John Dewey Society Lecture I examine the history and the structure of the American system of higher education. I argue that the true hero of the story is the evolved form of the American university and that all the things we love about it, like free speech, are the side effects of a structure that arose for other purposes. I tell this story in three parts. First I explore how the American system of higher education emerged in the nineteenth century, without a plan and without any apparent promise that it would turn out well. Then I show how this process created an astonishingly strong, resilient, and powerful structure, which deftly balances competing aims – the populist, the practical, and the elite. Then I veer back toward the issue raised in the title, to figure out what the connection is between the form of American higher education and the things that it is good for. I argue that the form serves the extraordinarily useful functions of protecting those of us in the faculty from the real world, protecting us from each other, and hiding what we’re doing behind a set of fictions and veneers that keep anyone from knowing exactly what is really going on. Awkwardly, this means that the institution depends on attributes that we would publicly deplore: chaotic complexity, hypocrisy, and opacity. I end with a call for us to retreat from substance and stand shoulder-to-shoulder in defense of procedure

Evaluation and application of microsatellites for population identification of Fraser River chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

Variation at 13 microsatellite loci was previously surveyed in approximately 7400 chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) sampled from 50 localities in the Fraser River drainage in southern British Columbia. Evaluation of the utility of the microsatellite variation for population-specific stock identification applications indicated that the accuracy of the stock composition estimates generally improved with an increasing number of loci used in the estimation procedure, but an increase in accuracy was generally marginal after eight loci were used. With 10–14 populations in a simulated fishery sample, the mean error in population-specific estimated stock composition with a 50-popula-tion baseline was <1.4%. Identification of individuals to specific populations was highest for lower Fraser River and lower and North Thompson River populations; an average of 70% of the individual fish were correctly assigned to specific populations. The average error of the estimated percentage for the seven populations present in a coded-wire tag sample was 2% per population. Estimation of stock composition in the lower river commercial net fishery prior to June is of key local fishery management interest. Chinook salmon from the Chilcotin River and Nicola River drainages were important contributors to the early commercial fishery in the lower river because they comprised approximately 50% of the samples from the net fishery prior to mid April

The geographic basis for population structure in Fraser River chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

We surveyed variation at 13 microsatellite loci in approximately 7400 chinook salmon sampled from 52 spawning sites in the Fraser River drainage during 1988–98 to examine the spatial and temporal basis of population structure in the watershed. Genetically discrete chinook salmon populations were associated with almost all spawning sites, although gene flow within some tributaries prevented or limited differentiation among spawning groups. The mean FST value over 52 samples and 13 loci surveyed was 0.039. Geographic structuring of populations was apparent: distinct groups were identified in the upper, middle, and lower Fraser River regions, and the north, south, and lower Thompson River regions. The geographically and temporally isolated Birkenhead River population of the lower Fraser region was sufficiently genetically distinctive to be treated as a separate region in a hierarchial analysis of gene diversity. Approximately 95% of genetic variation was contained within populations, and the remainder was accounted for by differentiation among regions (3.1%), among populations within regions (1.3%), and among years within populations (0.5%).Analysis of allelic diversity and private alleles did not support the suggestion that genetically distinctive populations of chinook salmon in the south Thompson were the result of postglacial hybridization of ocean-type and stream-type chinook in the Fraser River drainage. However, the relatively small amount of differentiation among Fraser River chinook salmon populations supports the suggestion that gene flow among genetically distinct groups of postglacial colonizing groups of chinook salmon has occurred, possibly prior to colonization of the Fraser River drainage

iSchools and archival studies

Whispers and rumors about the iSchool movement lead some to fear that this represents yet another shift away from the valued traditions of library schools, threatening something far different than what library science pioneers ever envisioned. Predating the iSchool movement, however, were other programmatic shifts such as those that led to the formalization of graduate archival education. This essay argues that such evolution is essential to our future, as iSchools tackle the increasingly complex issues confronting a digital society. We consider the mission and history of iSchools and of archival studies, the basic elements and concepts of archival studies that are critical to iSchools, and the relationship between iSchools and the changing nature of personal and institutional archives. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

A sociologist teaches history: some epistemological and pedagogical reflections

This article discusses the concept of ‘historical sociology’ in relation to the teaching of a module on an undergraduate degree in Education Studies at a university in the United Kingdom. The module examines the history of education policy in England from 1870 until the present day. Drawing upon comparisons with Social Foundations of Education programs in the United States, I examine some key epistemological and pedagogical issues raised by the inter-disciplinary approach to teaching and learning followed within the module in which we combine historical and sociological perspectives as a means to understand the evolution of the English education system. In particular, using Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogic device as an analytical framework, I consider the epistemological congruence of sociology and history as the contributory disciplines of the undergraduate module. From a discussion of the concept of historical sociology, I conclude that although sociology and history are distinct subjects, they share a large amount of analytical ground which thus facilitates the inter-disciplinary approach pursued within the module. Following that, I examine some pedagogical issues that have arisen in my experience of teaching upon the module and I discuss how I have addressed these. I conclude the article by making comparisons to relevant examples from pedagogical practices in Social Foundations of Education programs in the United States