Automatic evaluation of digital libraries with 5SQual

Digital libraries (DLs) are complex information systems which can present changes in their structure, content, and services. These complexities and dynamics make system maintenance a non-trivial task, since it requires periodical evaluation of the different DL components. Generally, these evaluations are customized per system and are performed only when problems occur and administrator intervention is required. This work aims to change the situation. We present 5SQual, a tool which provides ways to perform automatic and configurable evaluations of some of the most important DL components, among them, digital objects, metadata, and services. The tool implements diverse numeric indicators that are associated with eight quality dimensions described in the 5S quality model. Its generic architecture was developed to be applicable to various DLs and scenarios. In sum, the main contributions of this work include: (i) the design and implementation of 5SQual, a tool that validates a theoretical DL quality model; (ii) the demonstration of the applicability of the tool in several usage scenarios; and (iii) the evaluation (with usability specialists) of its graphical interface specially designed to guide the configuration of 5SQual evaluations. We also present the results of interviews conducted with administrators of real DLs regarding their expectations and opinions about 5SQual.     

International education and the employability of UK students

A common theme within the literature on higher education is the congested nature of the graduate labour market. Researchers have highlighted the lengths to which many students now go, in response to this congestion, to ‘distinguish themselves’ from other graduates: paying increased attention to university status; engaging in a range of extra‐curricular activities; and pursuing postgraduate qualifications. Studies that have focused on the strategies of Asian students, specifically, have pointed to the important place of studying abroad as a further strategy in this pursuit of distinction. Given that there is now some evidence that the number of UK students enrolling on a degree programme overseas is increasing, this article explores the extent to which an overseas education can be seen as part of a broader strategy on the part of British students to seek distinction within the labour market and whether such an education does indeed offer tangible employment benefits.     

Surgical Clinical Correlates in Anatomy: Design and implementation of a first‐year medical school program

Medical students state the need for a clinically oriented anatomy class so to maximize their learning experience. We hypothesize that the first‐year medical students, who take the Surgical Clinical Correlates in Anatomy program, will perform better than their peers in their anatomy course, their surgical clerkships and ultimately choose surgical residencies. We designed and recently implemented this program for first‐year medical students. It consisted of General Surgical Knowledge, Orthopedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Urology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, General Surgery, Vascular Surgery, and Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) sessions. Each session had defined learning objectives and interactive cadaveric operations performed by faculty members and students. The program was elective and had 25 participants randomly chosen. An evaluative questionnaire was completed before and after the program. Comparative analysis of the questionnaires, first‐year anatomy examination results, clinical surgical rotation scores, and residency match results will be completed. The positive opinions of surgeons increased for all medical students from the pre‐evaluation to the post‐evaluation, and there was a greater increase in positive opinions for our participants. Our participants also had the highest average overall for all combined anatomy examinations. A need exists among medical students to develop a clinically correlated anatomy program that will maximize their learning experience, improve their performance and allow them to make moreinformed career choices. The recent implementation of this Surgical Clinical Correlates in Anatomy program fulfills this need. Anat Sci Educ 2: 265?272, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Children's Temperament and Behavior in Montessori and Constructivist Early Childhood Programs

This study tested the hypothesis that curriculum type (Montessori and constructivist) moderates the impact of temperament (specifically activity level and attention-span/persistence) on the classroom behavior of 3- to 5-year-old children. Mothers enrolled in Montessori and constructivist preschools filled out the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory. The children's teachers filled out the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire and the Preschool Adjustment Questionnaire. A near-significant trend suggested that temperamentally active boys were more likely to be perceived by their teachers as having behavior problems if they were enrolled in Montessori programs than if they were enrolled in constructivist programs. There was no such trend for girls. There was no evidence that temperamental attention-span persistence moderated the impact of curriculum type on either boys' or girls' behavior. The findings thus give modest support to the notion that parents should be advised to select constructivist early childhood programs especially for boys who are temperamentally predisposed to be highly modifying their teaching practices to better accommodate the needs of these children active. In addition, directors and teachers in Montessori programs may consider modifying their teaching practices to better accommodate the needs of these children.     

Ecological dynamics of continuous and categorical decision-making: The regatta start in sailing

Abstract

Ecological dynamics of decision-making in the sport of sailing exemplifies emergent, conditionally coupled, co-adaptive behaviours. In this study, observation of the coupling dynamics of paired boats during competitive sailing showed that decision-making can be modelled as a self-sustained, co-adapting system of informationally coupled oscillators (boats). Bytracing the spatial–temporal displacements of the boats, time series analyses (autocorrelations, periodograms and running correlations) revealed that trajectories of match racing boats are coupled more than 88% of the time during a pre-start race, via continuous, competing co-adaptions between boats. Results showed that both the continuously selected trajectories of the sailors (12 years of age) and their categorical starting point locations were examples of emergent decisions. In this dynamical conception of decision-making behaviours, strategic positioning (categorical) and continuous displacement of a boat over the course in match-race sailing emerged as a function of interacting task, personal and environmental constraints. Results suggest how key interacting constraints could be manipulated in practice to enhance sailors' perceptual attunement to them in competition.     

Interpretations of graphs by university biology students and practicing scientists: Toward a social practice view of scientific representation practices

Using graphs is a key social practice of professional science. As part of a research program that investigates the development of graphing practices from elementary school to professional science activities, this study was designed to investigate similarities and differences in graph‐related interpretations between scientists and college students engaged in collective graph interpretation. Forty‐five students in a second‐year university ecology course and four scientists participated in the study. Guided by domain‐ specific concerns, scientists' graph‐related activities were characterized by a large number of experience‐based, domain‐specific interpretive resources and practices. Students' group based activities were characterized by the lack of linguistic distinctions (between scientific terms) which led to ambiguities in group negotiations; there was also a lack of knowledge about specific organism populations which helped field ecologists construct meaning. Many students learned to provide correct answers to specific graphing questions but did not come to make linguistic distinctions or increase their knowledge of specific populations. In the absence of concerns other than to do well in the course, students did not appear to develop any general interpretive skills for graphs, but learned instead to apply the professor's interpretation. This is problematic because, as we have demonstrated, there are widely differing viable interpretations of the graph. Suggestions for changes in learning environments for graphing that should alleviate this problem are made. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 1020–1043, 1999     

Food Safety Knowledge and Beliefs of Middle School Children: Implications for Food Safety Educators

ABSTRACT: To create effective educational interventions that address the food safety informational needs of youth, a greater understanding of their knowledge and skills is needed. The purposes of this study were to explore, via focus groups, the food‐handling responsibilities of middle school youth and obstacles they face in practicing safe food handling and develop recommendations for the design of food safety interventions for youth. Most youth reported that they prepared food at least once weekly and rated learning to prevent foodborne illness as important. Youth knew that food could make them sick, described foodborne illness as resulting from “something” getting into food, not cooking food “right,” or the food going bad. Most responses lacked details, suggesting knowledge was basic. Nearly all were interested in learning about food safety. Barriers that deterred them from learning about food safety were time and feeling they were not susceptible to foodborne illness. To overcome barriers, youth suggested focusing on the seriousness of and risks for foodborne illness, using a serious but comical educational approach, and using hands‐on educational media. Parents highly rated the importance of and degree to which they wanted youth to learn about food safety. Parents felt that their children had moderate levels of food safety knowledge, but many questioned whether they practiced food safety procedures when unsupervised. Parents felt that food safety education needed to be taught and reinforced in school and at home. After having reviewed youth and parent data, food safety experts proposed recommendations for youth‐focused food safety education that paralleled current consumer food safety initiatives.