Collaborative information seeking: A field study of a multidisciplinary patient care team

Multidisciplinary teams are an essential aspect of modern organizational work. These teams often work in information-rich environments but little is known about their collaborative information seeking (CIS) behavior. We have been studying the CIS behavior of teams in the context of medical care. We conducted an ethnographic field study of a multidisciplinary patient care team in an emergency department to identify (a) team information needs and (b) situations that trigger collaborative information seeking activities. We identified seven categories of information needs as expressed by questions asked by team members. The majority of questions focused on medical information, but there were a larger than expected percentage of questions focusing on organizational information. We also identified three triggers for CIS activities. These triggers are: (1) lack of expertise, (2) lack of immediately accessible information, and (3) complex information needs. The questions and triggers highlight the importance of face-to-face communication during CIS activities and how CIS activities could lead to interruptive workplaces. We also discuss organizational and technical implications for supporting CIS behavior of teams.     

A model for understanding collaborative information behavior in context: A study of two healthcare teams

Collaborative information behavior is an essential aspect of organizational work; however, we have very limited understanding of this behavior. Most models of information behavior focus on the individual seeker of information. In this paper, we report the results from two empirical studies that investigate aspects of collaborative information behavior in organizational settings. From these studies, we found that collaborative information behavior differs from individual information behavior with respect to how individuals interact with each other, the complexity of the information need, and the role of information technology. There are specific triggers for transitioning from individual to collaborative information behavior, including lack of domain expertise. The information retrieval technologies used affect collaborative information behavior by acting as important supporting mechanisms. From these results and prior work, we develop a model of collaborative information behavior along the axes of participant behavior, situational elements, and contextual triggers. We also present characteristics of collaborative information system including search, chat, and sharing. We discuss implications for the design of collaborative information retrieval systems and directions for future work.     

Pushing the entrepreneurial prodigy: Canadian Aboriginal entrepreneurship education initiatives

Globally, neoliberal education policy touts youth entrepreneurship education as a solution for staggering youth unemployment, a means to bolster economically depressed regions, and solution to the ill-defined changing marketplace. Many jurisdictions have emphasized a need for K-12 entrepreneurial education for the general population, and targeted to youth labeled ‘at risk’. The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative’s Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program (AYEP) has been enacted across Canada. This paper applies critical discourse analysis to a corpus of texts, exposing how colonial practices, deficit discourse, and discursive neoliberalism are embedded and perpetuated though entrepreneurial education targeted at Aboriginal students via AYEP.     

Impacts of consolidation procedures on colour and absorption kinetics of carbonate stones

The aim of this research work was to test the influence of stone properties, consolidation product, and application procedure on the potential harmfulness of consolidation on carbonate stones as assessed through the impacts on colour and water absorption kinetics. This article contributes to understanding the immediate and delayed impacts of consolidation treatments through the assessment of colour variation and modification of water absorption kinetics. The investigation was carried out on two limestones having a porosity of 10 and 27%, which were treated with three consolidating products (ethyl silicate, acrylic, and epoxy resins) using three treatment procedures: capillary absorption, brush, and full immersion. All products showed negative impacts at different degrees. We could show that their impact on a given stone depends not only on the consolidant type, but also on the treatment procedures. We demonstrated this way that the assessment of the potential harmfulness of a consolidation treatment for a specific intervention should be carried out in conditions as similar as possible to those expected to occur in practice and should never be based on extrapolations made from any other different conditions. The results also contribute to the definition of standard testing protocols in stone consolidation, privileging the application of a consolidant by direct contact capillary absorption when reproducibility is pursued, or by brushing when the potential highest impacts on colour are the target to evaluate.     

The impact of polytechnic institutes on the local economy

Tertiary Education and Management - Higher education institutions and, particularly, polytechnic institutes in Portugal are, generally speaking, recognized as the key stakeholders in regional...     

Constructing and Using Multimodal Narratives to Research in Science Education: Contributions Based on Practical Classroom

This study deals with the problem of how to collect genuine and useful data about science classroom practices, and preserving the complex and holistic nature of teaching and learning. Additionally, we were looking for an instrument that would allow comparability and verifiability for teaching and research purposes. Given the multimodality of teaching and learning processes, we developed the multimodal narrative (MN), which describes what happens during a task and incorporates data such as examples of students’ work, photos, diagrams, etc. Also, it describes teachers’ intentions, preserving the nature of teaching practice in natural settings and it is verifiable and comparable. In this paper, we show how the MN was developed and present the protocol that was used for its construction. We identify the main characteristics of the MN and place it in the context of international research. We explore the potential of the MN for research purposes, illustrating its use in a research study that we carried out. We find that the MN provides a way to gather, organize and transform data, avoiding confusing and time-consuming manipulation of data, while minimizing the natural subjectivity of the narrator. The same MN can be used by the same or by different researchers for different purposes. Furthermore, the same MN can be used with different analysis techniques. It is also possible to study research practices on a large scale using MNs from different teachers and lessons. We propose that MNs can also be useful for teachers’ professional development.     

Effects of weightlifting exercise,traditional resistance and plyometric training on countermovement jump performance: a meta-analysis

Jump performance is considered an important factor in many sports. Thus, strategies such as weightlifting (WL) exercises, traditional resistance training (TRT) and plyometric training (PT) are effective at improving jump performance. However, it is not entirely clear which of these strategies can enable greater improvements on jump height. Thus, the purpose of the meta-analysis was to compare the improvements on countermovement jump (CMJ) performance between training methods which focus on WL exercises, TRT, and PT. Seven studies were included, of which one study performed both comparison. Therefore, four studies comparing WL exercises vs. TRT (total n = 78) and four studies comparing WL exercises vs. PT (total n = 76). The results showed greater improvements on CMJ performance for WL exercises compared to TRT (ES_diff: 0.72 ± 0.23; _95%CI: 0.26, 1.19; P = 0.002; Δ % = 7.5 and 2.1, respectively). The comparison between WL exercises vs. PT revealed no significant difference between protocols (ES_diff: 0.15 ± 0.23; _95%CI: ?0.30, 0.60; P = 0.518; Δ % = 8.8 and 8.1, respectively). In conclusion, WL exercises are superior to promote positive changes on CMJ performance compared to TRT; however, WL exercises and PT are equally effective at improving CMJ performance.