Hypersensitizing commercial panchromatic plates

Since ammonia, when added to the dye bath in preparing bathed plates, increases the sensitizing action of the dye, its action on commercial plates was investigated.In the course of the work three methods of sensitometry were used. Of these, one was used as a first qualitative test; the second, the spectrograph method, was used to study the effect of the ammonia on the sensitivity of the plate to each wave-length; the third, the Hurter and Driffield method, gives the absolute value of the speed of the plate.It was found that by bathing commercial panchromatic plates in a solution of 25 c.c. ethyl-alcohol, 75 c.c. water, and 3 c.c. of strong ammonia water (20 per cent. NH₃) for four minutes at 18° C. and drying rapidly, the speed to white light is increased 100 per cent. in nearly all cases, and the sensitivity in the red. extended one hundred or more Ångström units. The speed in the red is increased, in many cases, 400 per cent. If the plates be bathed without the alcohol (100 c.c. water, $\text{3}\text{1}\text{2}$ c.c. ammonia water) the speed is still more increased, but the plates should be used immediately after drying.Ordinary plates do not have their sensitivity appreciably changed. Most brands of orthochromatic plates are not improved, although one, the Cramer Trichromatic, showed the same increase as the panchromatic plate.     

Informing in-season tactical periodisation in team sport: development of a match difficulty index for Super Rugby

In team sports, tactical periodisation refers to the planned manipulation of training loads with the aim of prioritising athlete readiness for matches of greatest importance. Although monitoring of athletes’ physical condition is often used to inform this planning, the direct influence of external factors on match difficulty has not been well quantified. In this study, a ‘match difficulty index’ (MDI) for use in Super Rugby was developed, based on the influence imparted by five external factors on previous match outcomes. Specifically, information relating to match location, days break between matches, time-zone change and opposition ladder position (both current and previous year) were collected for matches played during the 2011–2013 Super Rugby seasons. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the importance of each of these factors with respect to match outcome (win/loss), with opposition ladder position and match location (home, domestic away or international) exerting the greatest influence on match difficulty. Three separate cross-validated models were constructed, with match outcome classification performance reported as 66.2%, 65.5% and 63.7% respectively. The three MDI models emanating from this study can each be used to inform tactical periodisation program design both prior to and during the regular season.     

Metropolis revisited: the evolving role of librarians in informatics education for the health professions

Objective:

The authors'' goal was to assess changes in the role of librarians in informatics education from 2004 to 2013. This is a follow-up to “Metropolis Redux: The Unique Importance of Library Skills in Informatics,” a 2004 survey of informatics programs.

Methods:

An electronic survey was conducted in January 2013 and sent to librarians via the MEDLIB-L email discussion list, the library section of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Medical Informatics Section of the Medical Library Association, the Information Technology Interest Group of the Association of College and Research Libraries/New England Region, and various library directors across the country.

Results:

Librarians from fifty-five institutions responded to the survey. Of these respondents, thirty-four included librarians in nonlibrary aspects of informatics training. Fifteen institutions have librarians participating in leadership positions in their informatics programs. Compared to the earlier survey, the role of librarians has evolved.

Conclusions:

Librarians possess skills that enable them to participate in informatics programs beyond a narrow library focus. Librarians currently perform significant leadership roles in informatics education. There are opportunities for librarian interdisciplinary collaboration in informatics programs.

Implications:

Informatics is much more than the study of technology. The information skills that librarians bring to the table enrich and broaden the study of informatics in addition to adding value to the library profession itself.     

Learning to solve ill-defined statistics problems: does self-explanation quality mediate the worked example effect?

Instructional Science - Extensive research has established that successful learning from an example is conditional on an important learning activity: self-explanation. Moreover, a model for...     

Reputation disparity in teaching and research productivity and rewards in the context of consequences of institutionalization of Publish or Perish culture in academia

The reputation disparity between teaching and research has stirred up an unending debate. The age-long notion that teaching and research overlap has become a controversial issue in academia. Consequences of the institutionalization of Publish OR Perish (POP) abound in the literature. This paper investigates the reputations disparity between teaching and research productivity and the rewards for these academic activities. It explores which, out of teaching activities and research publications receive higher or less attention and rewards. Relevant existing literature was reviewed to establish the institutionalization of POP and its consequences of the reputations disparity between teaching and research and its adverse effects on these activities. Evidence from the literature reviewed reveals the existence of POP reputation disparity as part of its consequences. A key finding is that teaching activities are insignificant and unrewarded as research publications. Neither the effectiveness nor the number of teaching loads counts like the numbers of publications.