GRATEFUL MED searching: a hospital library perspective.

The Health Sciences Information Center of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center implemented an end user search service utilizing NLM's GRATEFUL MED software. A librarian-taught seminar is required of all end users. The course's teaching strategies are described. A survey of users was conducted and results are shared.     

On the Move: Technology, Mobility, and the Mediation of Social Time and Space

The current explosion in mobile computing and telecommunications technologies holds the potential to transform "everyday" time and space, as well as changes to the rhythms of social institutions. Sociologists are only just beginning to explore what the notion of "mobility" might mean when mediated through computing and communications technologies, and so far, the sociological treatment has been largely theoretical. This article seeks instead to explore how a number of dimensions of time and space are being newly reconstructed through the use of mobile communications technologies in everyday life. The article draws on long-term ethnographic research entitled "The Socio-Technical Shaping of Mobile Multimedia Personal Communications," conducted at the University of Surrey. This research has involved ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a variety of locales and with a number of groups. This research is used here as a resource to explore how mobile communications technologies mediate time in relation to mobile spaces. First the paper offers a review and critique of some of the major sociological approaches to understanding time and space. This review entails a discussion of how social practices and institutions are maintained and/or transformed via mobile technologies. Ethnographic data is used to explore emerging mobile temporalities. Three interconnected domains in mobile time are proposed: rhythms of mobile use, rhythms of mobile use in everyday life, and rhythms of mobility and institutional change. The article argues that while these mobile temporalities are emerging, and offer new ways of acting in and perceiving time and space, the practical construction of mobile time in everyday life remains firmly connected to well-established time-based social practices, whether these be institutional (such as clock time, "work time") or subjective (such as "family time").     

Identification of Threshold Concepts for Biochemistry

Threshold concepts (TCs) are concepts that, when mastered, represent a transformed understanding of a discipline without which the learner cannot progress. We have undertaken a process involving more than 75 faculty members and 50 undergraduate students to identify a working list of TCs for biochemistry. The process of identifying TCs for biochemistry was modeled on extensive work related to TCs across a range of disciplines and included faculty workshops and student interviews. Using an iterative process, we prioritized five concepts on which to focus future development of instructional materials. Broadly defined, the concepts are steady state, biochemical pathway dynamics and regulation, the physical basis of interactions, thermodynamics of macromolecular structure formation, and free energy. The working list presented here is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather is meant to identify a subset of TCs for biochemistry for which instructional and assessment tools for undergraduate biochemistry will be developed.     

Social origins,school type and higher education destinations

To what extent and why do social origins matter for access to higher education, including access to elite universities? What is the role of private and selective schooling? This paper uses the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) to analyse the trajectories of a generation currently in early middle age. We find that the influence of social origins, especially parental education, remains when both a wide range of cognitive measures and school attainment are controlled. Attending a private school is powerfully predictive of gaining a university degree, and especially a degree from an elite institution, while grammar schooling does not appear to confer any advantage.     

More than basketball: Determining the sport components that lead to long-term benefits for African-American girls

Sport participation has the capacity to enhance the athletic and academic performance of adolescents. However, African-American participants have not enjoyed the positive academic benefits that are common among other populations. Sport is a popular developmental intervention for African-American youth, yet sport programs do not always render the intended benefits (Coalter, 2007). The purpose of this study was to determine the components of school-based sport programs that create long-term benefits for African-American girls. A high school basketball program based on positive youth development served as the program site. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with current and former players and program stakeholders. Four key values underpin the success of the program: family, education, discipline, and civic engagement. The results indicate that successful programs need flexible—not standard—design commitment to program values, and consistency in mission and implementation. Implications for the design and implementation of sport programs to improve the athletic and academic performance of African-American girls are discussed.     

Factors Related to Rural Young Adolescents' Participation in Outdoor,Noncompetitive Physical Activity

Purpose: Young adolescents who have little interest in participating in competitive team sports are at an increased risk for physical inactivity. Noncompetitive outdoor physical activity can provide young adolescents with increased opportunities to participate in physical activities that appeal to them and have positive health effects. The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to rural young adolescents' participation in noncompetitive outdoor physical activity to inform intervention design. Method: Young adolescents aged 10 to 14 years old (N = 1,032) from 1 rural county completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing constructs from self-determination theory (SDT) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) related to noncompetitive outdoor physical activity. Structural equation modeling was used to examine an integrated conceptual model of hypothesized relationships among constructs. Results: The hypothesized conceptual model provided a good fit to the data with greater perceptions of autonomy support and self-determined motivation having statistically significant positive indirect effects on participation in noncompetitive outdoor physical activity mediated by the constructs of the TPB. All direct paths in the model were statistically significant; however, the direct effect of attitudes on intention was weak (.08) and self-determined motivation had no indirect effect on intention through attitudes (.03). Conclusions: Constructs of SDT and TPB should be accounted for by interventions targeting noncompetitive outdoor physical activity among young adolescents. More research is needed to determine young adolescents' preferences for noncompetitive and competitive physical activity and the potential influence that noncompetitive outdoor physical activity may have on total daily physical activity.