Assessing Library Customer Interactions and Staff Satisfaction

In 2016, two service departments–the office of information technology (OIT) and the academic resource center (ARC) at the college–physically relocated into the library. To ensure consistent customer service and staffing for the ARC, OIT, and library, the departments collaborated to discuss the implications for their new shared space. They decided to use a common online customer service form in Qualtrics to track and assess library customer interactions and staff satisfaction.     

Predicting Physical Activity Among Children: Investigating Interaction Effects in the Theory of Planned Behavior

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been criticized for not including interactions between the variables assumed to predict behavior. This study sought to test how TPB variables interact to predict physical activity (PA) in children. Method: Four hundred thirty-eight children (M_age = 8.6 years, SD = 1.6 years) completed a TPB questionnaire and a PA questionnaire at Time 1. The PA measure was repeated 2 months later. Path analyses were performed to test the hypothesized model including interaction terms between TPB variables. Simple slopes analyses were also carried out to examine the statistically significant interaction terms. Results: Path analyses confirmed the classical hypotheses of TPB (R² for intentions = .39, R² for PA = .12) and also demonstrated only statistically significant Attitudes × Perceived Behavioral Control and Subjective Norms × Attitudes interactions (R² change for intentions = .01, p = .009). Simple slopes analyses revealed that the strength of the association between perceived behavioral control and intentions was only statistically significantly higher (t = 2.18, p = .05, d = 0.34, 95% CI [0.03, 0.65]) when attitudes were high compared with when attitudes were low. The link between attitudes and intentions was only statistically significant at a low level of subjective norms but not at a high level. Conclusion: The integration of interaction effects between TPB variables did not increase for the variance of PA explained by the model. More research appears to be necessary to explore how the TPB could be augmented to better predict PA in children.     

Whose banner are we waving? Exploring STEM partnerships for marginalized urban youth

This case study examines after school programming in citizen science from the perspective of Critical Race Theory. During the course of enacting community outreach projects this data was used to examine the positioning of experts, student, and teachers within the program. This study explores the role of race and ethnicity, and the ways in which marginalization can manifest itself with black urban youth and teachers. Implications for partner selection and training are addressed.     

The scientific approach to the restoration and monitoring of mural paintings at S. Girolamo Chapel – SS. Annunziata Church in Florence

The scientific approach to the restoration and monitoring of mural paintings, at S. Girolamo Chapel – SS. Annunziata Church in Florence, is reported as a fruitful example of the synergic collaboration between restorers and scientists in the planning and development of conservative interventions. Before restoration, the painting technique and the state of preservation of the pictorial cycle have been investigated firstly by close examination of the painted surfaces and then by optical and/or SEM-EDS microscopy and μFT-IR spectroscopy on appropriately selected samples. In particular, the original constituent materials and those belonging to subsequent restorations were characterized together with those originating from decay processes. In this mural painting cycle, a peculiar “fresco” technique has been used although an auxiliary binder for pigment distemper has been also employed. The use of this technique, sometimes in an improper way together with uncorrected restoration interventions, are the main responsible of the unsatisfactory state of conservation of many painted areas. Preliminary conservation trials and scientific studies were carried out to design the most convenient restoration intervention and to verify the correctness and non-invasive of the necessary operations. Special attention was devoted to cleaning procedures, continuously monitored by a physico-chemical methodology, mainly based on microinvasive, microscopic and spectroscopic investigations, to evaluate the efficiency, advantages and drawbacks of the proposed cleaning procedures and define the most appropriate ones. Finally, specific decay markers have been recognized, by a comparison of the results obtained from the detached samples with those deriving from artificially aged models, to be used for a correct future monitoring and maintenance of the wall paintings.     

Personality type and occupational preference: Testing Holland's theory in the Caribbean

Holland's theory of career choice, which predicts a relationship between personality type and occupational preference and satisfaction, was tested in Dominica, a small and relatively underdeveloped Caribbean nation. Data from 101 14–16 year olds in their final year of schooling were consistent with Holland's ideas in some respects, but the close relationship observed between Social and Realistic categories contradicted theoretical predictions. Explanations for this finding, and wider implications for use of North American materials in Caribbean guidance and counselling programmes, are discussed.This research was conducted by the second author in partial fulfilment of requirements for the B.E.d. degree, University of the West Indies, under the supervision of the first author who also prepared the article for publication.     

Exploring the Impact of Assessment on Medical Students’ Learning

Abstract

What and how students learn depend largely on how they think they will be assessed. This study aimed to explore medical students’ perception of the value of assessment and feedback on their learning, and how this relates to their examination performance. A mixed methods research design was adopted in which a questionnaire was developed and administered to the students to gain their perceptions of assessments. Perceptions were further explored in focus group discussions. Survey findings were correlated with students’ performance data and academic coordinators’ perceptions. Students’ perceptions of the level of difficulty of different assessments mirrored their performance in examinations, with an improvement observed in clinical assessments as students progressed through their degree. Students recognised that feedback is important to allow improvements and seek more timely, better quality and personalised feedback. Academic coordinators identified that some of the students’ suggestions are more realistic than others. Students had a positive attitude towards assessment, but emphasised the need for educators to highlight the relevance of assessment to clinical practice.     

National science training policy and early scientific careers in France and the United States

The economic health of nations and regions is increasingly coming to rest on the scientific and technical labor force conducting scientific research. As such, enormous social resources are directed to educating and training those who will fire the engines of economic growth. In the first part of this paper, we compare recent investment in the scientific and technical labor forces by two giants of nationally-supported research endeavors: France and the United States. We find that France is more invested in scientific and technical training, but that both nations invest directly and indirectly in the scientific and technical labor force. French policy is more likely to support the individual graduate student directly through a national grant, while graduate students in the US tend to rely indirectly on federal support through research grants to other researchers. We then use duration models on individual data to predict entry into a permanent academic position within three years of completing a Ph.D. We do not find that industrial support of graduate training has any effect on later success in obtaining a position. There is, however, evidence of different academic labor markets operating in each country. In France, entry into a position has not depended on period factors, while in the US more recent cohorts have been more successful in obtaining permanent employment. Furthermore, postdoctoral positions in France delay or deter academic careers, but have no impact on entry in the US: this suggest that two different modes of scientific human resources management operate in France and in the USA. In the USA, Ph.D.s are seen as an essential element in the process of knowledge transfer, and early mobility does not affect entry into permanent academic careers. In France, few incentives are given to encourage mobility, which merely deters the access to permanent jobs. Finally, we found that graduates of the most prestigious undergraduate institutions were systematically advantaged in obtaining permanent academic employment, suggesting that academic stratification occurs very early in the training path in each country.     

Bottom Lines and Deadlines: Examining Local Digital News Startups’ Content Across Different Revenue-earning Sites

This study examines independent news startups with self-reported revenue earnings in high-, middle-, and low-income categories and compares them in the areas of news content creation. The findings, based on a content analysis of 704 articles, reveal that low-revenue earners publish fewer stories than middle- and high-revenue earning sites. For-profit sites publish significantly more in low- and mid-revenue earning categories but non-profits publish significantly more in high-revenue earning sites. Most stories are still covered by editorial staff, including articles in the field of entertainment, lifestyle/health and community events about people, usually considered the domain of citizen reporters. The discussion section contextualizes these findings and recommends future research could consider examining these sites separately rather than clubbing them under the umbrella of “digital local independent startups.”