In-House Training on New Library Processes at the NIST Research Library: A Case Study

This case study describes the development and implementation of a home-grown internal training program to teach the reference staff at a U.S. federal government library a new process for obtaining research materials that are not owned through alternative means rather than through the traditional interlibrary loan. Proficiency in the new process and increased use of existing resources were goals of the program. Included are the activities related to planning, logistics, success indicators, and lessons learned in the development and delivery of the in-house training program.     

MSW Students’ Motivations for Taking an International Social Work Elective Course

This article presents motivating factors for taking an international social work course for a sample of graduate students in the United States. Literature on international education, including courses and international field placements, provides a framework for the study. Qualitative themes showed that students were motivated primarily as a result of prior international experience, or the desire for such, as well as a wish to understand the phenomena of globalization. Findings point to the need for offering more courses in international social work and globalization.     

Perceptions of Communication With Gay and Lesbian Family Members: Predictors of Relational Satisfaction and Implications for Outgroup Attitudes

This study investigates perceptions of family communication among members with different sexual identities. Specifically, from the perspective of heterosexual family members (N = 129), the study takes an intergroup perspective to determine how accommodative and non-accommodative communication and attitudes toward homosexuality predict intergroup anxiety and relational satisfaction with gay or lesbian family members. Further, the manner in which family communication influences attitudes toward homosexuality is examined. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research on heterosexual–homosexual interaction, family communication, and intergroup communication, in general.     

An analysis of Social StoriesTM research using an evidence‐based practice model

The number of Social Stories^TM studies and reviews has increased in recent years, yet concerns regarding quality and effect sizes continue to be expressed. With the emphasis on evidence‐based practices (EBPs) for the education and treatment of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), this issue becomes of paramount importance as professionals and parents attempt to select interventions for the people with ASD in their care. The current study makes a unique contribution in its use of an extensive EBP evaluation model to examine 33 single‐subject studies across 13 peer‐reviewed journals, a 12‐year period, and a wide range of grouping variables. Using the Mayton, Wheeler, Menendez and Zhang (2010) EBP evaluation protocol, studies were investigated in terms of eight quality indicators comprised 23 operationally defined standards. Studies included in this analysis met the following criteria: (1) they were intervention studies using single‐subject research designs; (2) they included only participants with disorders on the autism spectrum; and (3) the primary intervention was the use of a Social Story. Findings included on‐ or above‐standard acceptability in EBP indicators related to important aspects of dependent variables within studies and below‐standard acceptability in indicators related to both internal and external validity of studies.     

Emotion in online college classrooms: examining the influence of perceived teacher communication behaviour on students’ emotional experiences

This research focused on teacher communication behaviour as an influential factor in students’ educational experiences. This study examined students’ perceptions of emotion (involving teachers’ emotional support, students’ emotional work and students’ positive emotional valence toward class and teacher) as influenced by a variety of predicting variables: perceptions of teacher affinity-seeking as well as teachers’ positive behaviour alteration techniques, verbal immediacy and teacher online presence (involving the three factors of instructional design, organisation facilitating discourse and direct instruction). Relying on survey data collected from undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines enrolled in course offerings at a large public university, quantitative analysis examined relationships among existing factors previously studied in educational and communication research. Although this study uncovered multiple significant relationships between variables in the data set, students’ perceptions of their teachers’ verbal immediacy and presence in their instructional design were found to be most predictive relative to students’ emotions in online classrooms. Ultimately this project addresses and emphasises the need to more fully examine students’ emotions and related social experiences with virtual teachers and course content in higher education.     

Owning Your Emotions: Reactions to Expressions of Self- versus Other-Attributed Positive and Negative Emotions

This investigation tested the notion that speakers should own their emotions by using I-messages rather than You-messages when conveying their feelings. In Study 1, hypothetical self-attributed (I) emotion messages were compared to other-attributed (You) messages, with an I-You message added in Study 2. In both studies, the effect of both positive and negative emotion statements on perceived politeness, effectiveness, and emotional reactions were assessed. No differences were found in reactions to the message forms for negative emotions, but both studies provided evidence for differences in respondents' reaction to positive emotional expressions. These results suggest a self-serving bias; recipients do not distinguish between ways of phrasing negative emotions expressed to them, but apparently appreciate being given credit for speakers' positive emotions. Implications for therapists, communication consultants, and practitioners are discussed.     

Suburban legend: School cutoff dates and the timing of births

Many states require children to reach age 5 by a specified date in the calendar year in order to begin kindergarten. We use birth certificate records from 1999 to 2004 to assess whether parents systematically time childbirth before these eligibility cutoff dates to capture the option value of sending their child to school at a relatively young age, thereby avoiding a year of child care costs. Testing for discontinuities in the distribution of births around cutoff dates, we find no evidence that the option value influences the timing of birth. Similarly, we find no systematic discontinuities in average mothers’ characteristics or babies’ health outcomes around cutoff dates. Timing in the neighborhood of eligibility cutoffs occurs only when the cutoffs coincide with weekends or holidays, which may have implications for recent research that assumes birth dates in the neighborhood of cutoffs are essentially randomly assigned.     

Elucidating usage of e-government learning: A perspective of the extended technology acceptance model

Learning is critical to both economic prosperity and social cohesion. E-government learning, which refers to the government's use of web-based technologies to facilitate learning about subjects that are useful to citizens, is relatively new, relevant, and potentially cost-effective. This work proposes and verifies that the technology acceptance model (TAM) can explain and predict usage of e-government learning. The TAM examines how perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and their antecedents influence intention and usage of a system. This study identifies antecedents that account for individual differences, thereby enhancing the explanatory power of the built model. A survey is used to collect data from users of an e-government learning website in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling is employed to examine the fit of the data to the model. From a theoretical point of view, this research extends the TAM to e-government learning and identifies the perceived e-government learning value and perceived enjoyment as antecedents of usage of e-government learning. This study also provides directions for future research and approaches to promote e-government learning.     

Key issues in data center security: An investigation of government audit reports

The rising volume of electronic data, the growth in cloud computing and the need for secure and affordable large-scale data storage all contribute to the increasing reliance on data centers in society. This paper provides an overview of security issues relevant to data centers. We offer an aggregation and exploratory analysis of four audit reports of government data centers operating in the United States. Using the information security common body of knowledge to categorize audit findings, we identify the key issues from the reoccurring findings in the reports, particularly in regards to operations security, data center management, physical security, and disaster planning. The security of data centers has become a paramount concern for both government and the information technology industry. Both practitioners and academics can benefit from our research results because it provides insight into the key security issues facing modern data centers.