This meta-analysis is a study of the experimental literature of technology use in postsecondary education from 1990 up to 2010 exclusive of studies of online or distance education previously reviewed by Bernard et al. (2004). It reports the overall weighted average effects of technology use on achievement and attitude outcomes and explores moderator variables in an attempt to explain how technology treatments lead to positive or negative effects. Out of an initial pool of 11,957 study abstracts, 1105 were chosen for analysis, yielding 879 achievement and 181 attitude effect sizes after pre-experimental designs and studies with obvious methodological confounds were removed. The random effects weighted average effect size for achievement was g+ = 0.27, k = 879, p < .05, and for attitude outcomes it was g+ = 0.20, k = 181, p <.05. The collection of achievement outcomes was divided into two sub-collections, according to the amount of technology integration in the control condition. These were no technology in the control condition (k = 479) and some technology in the control condition (k = 400). Random effects multiple meta-regression analysis was run on each sub-collection revealing three significant predictors (subject matter, degree of difference in technology use between the treatment and the control and pedagogical uses of technology). The set of predictors for each sub-collection was both significant and homogeneous. Differences were found among the levels of all three moderators, but particularly in favor of cognitive support applications. There were no significant predictors for attitude outcomes. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We have undertaken a comparative study of down-core variation in multiproxy palaeoclimate data (magnetic susceptibility, calcium carbonate content and total organic carbon) from two coastal water bodies (Myall and Tuggerah Lakes) in temperate eastern Australia to identify local, regional and global-forcing factors within Holocene estuarine sediments. The two lakes lie within the same temperate climate zone adjacent to the Tasman Sea, but are not part of the same catchment and drain different geological provinces. One is essentially a freshwater coastal lake whereas the other is a brackish back-barrier lagoon. Despite these differences, data from two sites in each of the two lakes have allowed us to investigate and compare cyclicity in otherwise uniform, single facies sediments within the frequency range of 200-2000 years, limited by the sedimentation rate within the lakes and our sample requirements. We have auto- and cross-correlated strong periodicities at similar to 360 years, similar to 500-530 years, similar to 270-290 years, 420-450 years and similar to 210 years, and subordinate periods of similar to 650 years, 1200-1400 years and similar to 1800 years. Our thesis is that climate is the only regionally available mechanism available to control common millennial and centennial scale cyclicity in these sediments, given the geographical and other differences. However, regional climate may not be the dominant effect at any single time and either location. Within the range of frequency spectral peaks we have identified, several fall within known long-term periodical fluctuations of sun spot activity; however, feedback loops associated with short-term orbital variation, such as Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, and the relationship between these and palaeo-ENSO variation, are also possible contributors. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Knowledge is an important input into sustainable agriculture. The most important type of knowledge for agriculture is the type that uses high-level cognitive skills. Knowledge intensive management is an information-based, high-level cognition skill that is particularly effective in improving yields, profits, and sustainability. The WWW offers new opportunities to deploy knowledge-intensive management in the GMS. One effective way of doing this is through educational simulation. Educational simulations have many advantages, and their disadvantages can be overcome through proper educational context and good design. Although many agricultural simulations have been developed, very few of them are available online in an educational format. With the potential of ICTs becoming apparent, some organizations are striving to use high-level cognitive learning environments such as simulations. By deploying materials that develop high- level cognitive skills, agricultural sustainability can be improved in the GMS.

About 240 million people live within the GMS region. The great majority of these people live in rural areas where they lead subsistence or semisubsistence agricultural lifestyles. Agriculture has now taken center stage in the global struggle against poverty and hunger and is the logical focus for development efforts in the region. Not only is the GMS primarily agrarian but its urban sector cannot absorb this large rural populace into productive non-farm employment even in the medium term. Other Asian countries have achieved lasting reductions in poverty through strategies focused on rural development and much can be learned from their experiences. Education is perhaps the most important factor in improving agriculture and ensuring its sustainability, but the educational systems of the GMS are weak and underdeveloped. A critical factor in this situation is that the knowledge intermediaries responsible for providing the needed education and training are themselves not well educated. Modern information and communication technologies offer much to address these deficiencies. eLearning, in particular, is proving itself in other developing countries with similar challenges and the Asia-Pacific Regional Technology Centre has been successfully delivering online courses to agricultural professionals in the GMS for several years. This approach is working and feedback from alumni suggests that these learning experiences are valued and contribute to professional effectiveness as knowledge intermediaries. An extremely important spillover benefit is that participants in eLearning courses become more "digitally literate" in a broader sense and better equipped to use ICTs for a range of other purposes. Thus, eLearning addresses immediate educational needs and also the digital divide that is becoming an increasing concern in the region..