An iPod (MP3) Library Tour for First-Year Students

This article describes the creation and evolution of an iPod (MP3) Library Tour and Assignment at the University of South Carolina (USC) Upstate. Designed as an integral part of the First-Year Information Literacy Program, the tour functions as an orientation to the layout of the physical library, including its collections and major service points. Issues addressed are the collaboration that led to the adoption of the tour, the results of a student survey that led to significant revisions, and the unique place of the tour's being required for a first-year program.     

Nationalistic Notions of the Superpowers: Comparative Analyses of the American and Chinese Telecasts in the 2008 Beijing Olympiad

Ranging from enhanced media exposure to increased athlete mentions, to biased on-air dialogues, nationalism percolates within the mosaic of the Olympic media framework. This study incorporates the dialogue of 2 national telecasts (United States and China) of 5 sports to determine the degree to which the 2 athletic superpowers framed athletic performances using “us vs. them” dichotomies. Significant differences were uncovered within discourse taxonomical attributions, leading to a conclusion that the telecasts from these two nations described the same athletic performances in substantially different manners which were largely based on whether the athlete competed for the United States or China.     

A Note on Structural Equation Modeling Estimates of Reliability

Reliability can be estimated using structural equation modeling (SEM). Two potential problems with this approach are that estimates may be unstable with small sample sizes and biased with misspecified models. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to investigate the quality of SEM estimates of reliability by themselves and relative to coefficient alpha. The SEM approach showed minimal bias when the model was correctly specified if items were relatively well defined by their underlying factor(s). They tended to demonstrate somewhat greater bias when the model was misspecified, particularly underspecified. Overall, SEM estimates were more stable than anticipated. Researchers are more likely to obtain accurate estimates of reliability using SEM by conducting large-sample studies with well-constructed scales and critically assessing model fit.     

Dimensional analyses of complex data

In this article, scales constructed using principal components and Rasch measurement methods are compared. The context of the comparison is scale definition under difficult circumstances—when constructs are unclear and sample sizes marginal. Three data sets of increasing complexity and decreasing stability were used. Responses for the least complex data set were dichotomous; the remaining two were polytomous. Results of Rasch and principal components analyses were identical when data were stable and the structure unidimensional. With less stability and more complexity, the defined scales were still similar for the two analytic approaches. Effects of item positions on the scales were noted and are discussed.     

China After Seattle

U.S. trade policy has always been shaped, usually quite transparently, by Washington's geopolitical interests. In the case of trade with China, however, there is no telling the cart from the horse.     

Eating Concerns in College Women Across Sexual Orientation Identities

This study found that treatment‐seeking sexual minority college women evidenced serious eating concerns. Regardless of sexual orientation and compared with those with low levels of eating concerns, women with high levels of eating concerns evidenced increased depression, increased generalized anxiety, and a greater likelihood of experiencing trauma. Regardless of eating concerns severity, sexual minority women evidenced greater depression, generalized anxiety, and likelihood of trauma than did heterosexual women, with bisexual women reporting the highest concerns.     

Treatment Utilization on College Campuses: Who Seeks Help for What?

The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of why college students seek psychological treatment by examining indicators of psychological distress. A secondary goal was to assess the utility of screening for treatment need via a brief self‐report measure of distress. Two samples (1 clinical, 1 nonclinical; N= 8,380) were examined via logistic regression analyses to identify meaningful predictors of treatment‐seeking behavior. Clinical applications are discussed.     

The Equity Indexed Annuity: A Monte Carlo Forensic Investigation into a Controversial Financial Product

Equity Indexed Annuities (EIAs) are controversial financial products because the payoffs to investors are based on formulas that are supposedly too complex for average investors to understand. This brief describes how Monte Carlo simulation can provide insight into the true risk and return of an EIA. This approach can be used as a project assignment or an in‐class assignment to demonstrate the ability of Monte Carlo simulation to solve problems involving uncertainty and nonlinear payoffs.     

Level of deprivation does not affect degree of discounting in pigeons

Two experiments tested the effects of food deprivation on discounting in pigeons. An adjusting-amount procedure was used to estimate the subjective value of food at delays ranging from 1 to 24 s. Experiment 1 compared pigeons’ discounting of delayed food reinforcers at 75 %–80 % and 90 %–95 % of free-feeding weight. Experiment 2 compared discounting under 1- and 23-h food deprivation. In both experiments at both deprivation levels, discounting was well described by the hyperboloid discounting function. No systematic effect of level of deprivation on degree of discounting was observed in either experiment. This finding is consistent with the view that pigeons’ choices are controlled by the relative, rather than the absolute, value of reinforcers.     

Time to rethink the role of the library in educating doctors: driving information literacy in the clinical environment

Question:

Can information literacy (IL) be embedded into the curriculum and clinical environment to facilitate patient care and lifelong learning?

Setting:

The Australian School of Advanced Medicine (ASAM) provides competence-based programs incorporating patient-centred care and lifelong learning. ASAM librarians use outcomes-based educational theory to embed and assess IL into ASAM''s educational and clinical environments.

Methods:

A competence-based IL program was developed where learning outcomes were linked to current patients and assessed with checklists. Weekly case presentations included clinicians'' literature search strategies, results, and conclusions. Librarians provided support to clinicians'' literature searches and assessed their presentations using a checklist.

Main Results:

Outcome data showed clinicians'' searching skills improved over time; however, advanced MEDLINE searching remained challenging for some. Recommendations are provided.

Conclusion:

IL learning that takes place in context using measurable outcomes is more meaningful, is enduring, and likely contributes to patient care. Competence-based assessment drives learning in this environment.