Exploring Best Management Practices for Geospatial Data in Academic Libraries

Due to the exponential growth of spatial information, effective management and curation of geospatial data has become a central concern for GIS libraries. Although geospatial data are often generated based on a set of well-established standards and protocols, best management practices in geospatial data services are still limited. In this paper, the authors review the common challenges of geospatial data management and curation, which include the application of big data, the emergence of Web GIS, and the advancement of cyberinfrastructures. A spatial education project is used as an example to discuss potential best management practices to address these challenges. It is demonstrated that librarians need to be involved at the early stage of a research project and work closely with researchers at all stages of the data life cycle for effective data management. With early involvement of a GIS librarian in the full project development process, all three challenges can be addressed by using best management practices in organizing, managing, publishing, distributing, and preserving the geospatial data.     

“Real life use” of troponin in the emergency department: a survey of over 3000 cases

Introduction

The aim of this study was to identify clinical variables which may be independently associated with positivity of a cardiac troponin I (cTnI) assay in a large population of patients admitted to the emergency department (ED).

Materials and methods

3166 subjects, with at least two troponin I tests ordered within 6 hours in the ED, were studied. Patient data were statistically analyzed to identify clinical associations with increased values of Troponin I.

Results

Although patients with diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome displayed troponin I values significantly higher than those of other groups, positivity to troponin I (> 40 ng/L) was also observed in patients with other clinical conditions. In multivariate analysis, age, elevated heart rate and electrocardiographyc changes were independently associated with troponin I positivity at admission. In the whole study population troponin I positivity exhibited high sensitivity and negative predictive value, counterbalanced by low specificity and limited positive predictive value.

Conclusions

Troponin I positivity should be combined with history and clinical evaluation and cautiously interpreted in the ED, especially in patients exhibiting factors associated with higher troponin I levels such as older age, elevated heart rate or ECG changes.Key words: troponin I, acute coronary syndrome, emergency service, hospital, chest pain     

High-Quality Formative Writing Assessment for Middle School Students in Tier 2 Literacy Interventions

Increased expectations for writing performance have created a need for formative writing assessments that will help middle school teachers better understand adolescents’ grade-appropriate writing skills and monitor the progress of students with or at risk for writing disabilities. In this practice piece, we first explain research-based recommendations for high-quality writing prompts that are interesting to students, provide clear directions, and ensure accessibility and fairness. Then, we use lessons learned from working with adolescents in Tier 2 literacy intervention classes to demonstrate how teachers can apply the recommendations to identify or develop prompts that will encourage students to write responses. In addition, we explain how analytic rubrics may be used to evaluate responses as a means of informing instruction and further refining the prompts.     

Adaptability and Grit: Foundations for Their Joint Contribution to Students' Academic and Nonacademic Outcomes

Adaptability (adjustment to new and uncertain situations) and grit (perseverance and passion for long-term goals) both sustain students, but their joint contribution has never been explored, and recent studies propose they could compose a single factor. In this study we aim to test whether (i) they actually belong to a single overarching factor as recently posited by the Triarchic Model of Grit and (ii) they have specific effects on different outcomes. We show that, in a sample of 602 students (11–18 years old), perseverance of effort, consistency of interests (the two facets of grit), and adaptability are distinct factors, that uniquely contribute to the outcomes considered (academic self-efficacy, achievement emotions, learning goals, self-regulated learning, achievement, and life satisfaction). Perseverance resulted as the strongest predictor, followed by adaptability and consistency. Conscientiousness was positively related to all three. We conclude that adaptability and grit are two separate but correlated factors that can promote a host of positive outcomes.     

Infants' Perception of Emotion From Body Movements

Adults recognize emotions conveyed by bodies with comparable accuracy to facial emotions. However, no prior study has explored infants' perception of body emotions. In Experiment 1, 6.5‐month‐olds (n = 32) preferred happy over neutral actions of actors with covered faces in upright but not inverted silent videos. In Experiment 2, infants (n = 32) matched happy and angry videos to corresponding vocalizations when the videos were upright but not when they were inverted. Experiment 3 (n = 16) demonstrated that infants' performance in Experiment 2 was not driven by information from the covered face and head. Thus, young infants are sensitive to emotions conveyed by bodies and match them to affective vocalizations, indicating sophisticated emotion processing capabilities early in life.     

Using a Table of Specifications to improve teacher-constructed traditional tests: an experimental design

We investigated if instruction on a Table of Specifications (TOS) would influence the quality of classroom test construction. Results should prove informative for educational researchers, teacher educators, and practising teachers interested in evidenced-based strategies that may improve assessment-related practices. Fifty-three college undergraduates were randomly assigned to an experimental (exposed to the TOS strategy) and a comparison condition (no specific strategy support) and given materials for an instructional unit to use to construct a classroom test. Results of a multivariate analysis of covariance suggested that students exposed to the TOS strategy constructed a test with higher test content evidence but not response process evidence scores. Furthermore, we found that treatment participants were able to accurately complete the TOS tool and choose items that reflected the subject matter specified in the TOS tool. However, they experienced difficulty selecting items at the cognitive level specified in the TOS tool.     

Concreteness Fading in Mathematics and Science Instruction: a Systematic Review

A longstanding debate concerns the use of concrete versus abstract instructional materials, particularly in domains such as mathematics and science. Although decades of research have focused on the advantages and disadvantages of concrete and abstract materials considered independently, we argue for an approach that moves beyond this dichotomy and combines their advantages. Specifically, we recommend beginning with concrete materials and then explicitly and gradually fading to the more abstract. Theoretical benefits of this “concreteness fading” technique for mathematics and science instruction include (1) helping learners interpret ambiguous or opaque abstract symbols in terms of well-understood concrete objects, (2) providing embodied perceptual and physical experiences that can ground abstract thinking, (3) enabling learners to build up a store of memorable images that can be used when abstract symbols lose meaning, and (4) guiding learners to strip away extraneous concrete properties and distill the generic, generalizable properties. In these ways, concreteness fading provides advantages that go beyond the sum of the benefits of concrete and abstract materials.