The Quest for Gender Equity in America's Schools: From Preschool and Beyond

"Nothing can be more absurd than the practice which prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus the state instead of being whole, is reduced to half.” Plato, 24 B. C.     

A case study: the evolution of a ��facilitator model�� liaison program in an academic medical library

Question:

What type of liaison program would best utilize both librarians and other library staff to effectively promote library services and resources to campus departments?

Setting:

The case is an academic medical center library serving a large, diverse campus.

Methods:

The library implemented a “facilitator model” program to provide personalized service to targeted clients that allowed for maximum staff participation with limited subject familiarity. To determine success, details of liaison-contact interactions and results of liaison and department surveys were reviewed.

Results:

Liaisons successfully recorded 595 interactions during the program''s first 10 months of existence. A significant majority of departmental contact persons (82.5%) indicated they were aware of the liaison program, and 75% indicated they preferred email communication.

Conclusion:

The “facilitator model” provides a well-defined structure for assigning liaisons to departments or groups; however, training is essential to ensure that liaisons are able to communicate effectively with their clients.     

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.     

Experimental validation of numerical study on thermoelectric-based heating in an integrated centrifugal microfluidic platform for polymerase chain reaction amplification

A comprehensive study involving numerical analysis and experimental validation of temperature transients within a microchamber was performed for thermocycling operation in an integrated centrifugal microfluidic platform for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Controlled heating and cooling of biological samples are essential processes in many sample preparation and detection steps for micro-total analysis systems. Specifically, the PCR process relies on highly controllable and uniform heating of nucleic acid samples for successful and efficient amplification. In these miniaturized systems, the heating process is often performed more rapidly, making the temperature control more difficult, and adding complexity to the integrated hardware system. To gain further insight into the complex temperature profiles within the PCR microchamber, numerical simulations using computational fluid dynamics and computational heat transfer were performed. The designed integrated centrifugal microfluidics platform utilizes thermoelectrics for ice-valving and thermocycling for PCR amplification. Embedded micro-thermocouples were used to record the static and dynamic thermal responses in the experiments. The data collected was subsequently used for computational validation of the numerical predictions for the system response during thermocycling, and these simulations were found to be in agreement with the experimental data to within ∼97%. When thermal contact resistance values were incorporated in the simulations, the numerical predictions were found to be in agreement with the experimental data to within ∼99.9%. This in-depth numerical modeling and experimental validation of a complex single-sided heating platform provide insights into hardware and system design for multi-layered polymer microfluidic systems. In addition, the biological capability along with the practical feasibility of the integrated system is demonstrated by successfully performing PCR amplification of a Group B Streptococcus gene.     

Children's Activity Rating Scale (CARS): Description and Calibration

Abstract

A five-level Children's Activity Rating Scale (CARS) was designed to categorize the intensity of physical activities and discriminate between levels of energy expenditure in young children. The CARS was used by trained observers over a 12-month period to assess physical activities of 3-4 year-old children during field observations. Agreement among observers using the CARS was 84.1% for 389 paired observation periods. The energy expenditure for each level was assessed by measuring VO₂s and heart rates of 5-6 year-old children (12 boys, 13 girls) while they performed eight activities representing the CARS levels. Mean VO₂s for the eight activities in Levels 1-5 ranged from 7.1 to 37.5 ml kg BW^?1 min^?1 (1 to 5.42 METS; 145% to 80.6% of VO₂max). Mean heart rates ranged from 89 to 183 b min^?1 for activities in Levels 1-5. VO₂s and heart rates at each level were significantly different from all other levels. These data demonstrate that the CARS encompasses a wide range of energy expenditures, discriminates between levels of energy expenditure, and can be used by trained observers to reliably evaluate physical activity and estimate energy expenditure of young children.     

Index for Volume 59 (1988)

Abstract

Numerous epidemiological investigations have shown that low physical fitness and low physical activity are related to the incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD). Most studies, however, have not examined both variables concurrently to determine which has the strongest association with CAD risk. The purpose of the investigation was to cross-sectionally examine the relationships among physical fitness, physical activity, and risk factors for CAD. Male law enforcement officers (N = 412) from the City of Austin, Texas, were subjects for this study. Physical fitness, physical activity, and risk factors for CAD were assessed through health screenings and from data collected as part of an annual physical fitness assessment. Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed that physical fitness, but not physical activity, was related to several single CAD risk factors. Percent body fat, smoking habits, and Type A behavior score were negatively related to physical fitness level, and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was positively related to physical fitness level. Univariate analysis of variance found both physical fitness and physical activity to be significantly related to a composite CAD risk score. Low physical fitness and low physical activity were associated with a high CAD risk score. These data suggest that physical activity must be sufficient to influence physical fitness before statistically significant risk-reducing benefits on single CAD risk factors are obtained, although minimal engagement in weekly vigorous activity provides a significant benefit for the composite CAD risk score. It is plausible, however, that physical fitness is a stronger measure than physical activity and optimally characterizes the relationship among physical activity and CAD risk factors.     

An Analysis of the Relationship between Somatotype and Personality Traits of College Women

Abstract

The underlying rationale for the study was based on the conviction that biological factors are important in accounting for human behavior. This study was undertaken to compare the results of selected personality traits with the somatotypes of college women. Somatotypes were determined by the use of somatotype ratings as established by Sheldon. The personality profiles were determined by two personality measuring instruments: (a) the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, and (b) the California Psychological Inventory. Of the 23 hypotheses which were arbitrarily derived from Sheldon's work on physique and temperament of men, only one proved to be tenable. This tenable hypothesis stated that the component of mesomorphy is significantly correlated with the second order Factor I of the 16 PF (Low Anxiety).     

Effect of Guided Practice on Overhand-Throw Ball Velocities of Kindergarten Children

Abstract

Forty-five children from two intact kindergartens in one school were randomly assigned by sex to (a) an experimental group which received a movement program that included 120 min of guided practice in the overhand throw; or (b) a control group which received the same movement program but no exposure to the throw. A third group (N = 24), randomly selected by sex from a comparable school, received no movement program. Before and after the eight-week instructional period, ten trials of each child's overhand throw for force were filmed. Horizontal ball velocities were simultaneously recorded. ANOVAs on pre- and posttest ball velocities for each sex within each treatment group revealed no significant practice effect over ten trials (p > .05); thus, the trial mean was used as each subject's score. Two-way ANOVAs (treatment X sex) on the pre- and posttest data indicated no significant velocity differences (p > .05) between groups either before or after instruction. Boys had significantly greater velocities than girls (p < .05). Eight weeks of instruction that included 120 min of guided practice in the overarm throw did not significantly change the ball velocities of kindergarten children when compared to two groups with no formal throwing experience.