An annotated bibliography of education for medical librarianship, 1940-1968

An attempt has been made in this bibliography to represent the various viewpoints concerning education for medical librarianship equally. The topics covered include: general background reading and readings for those interested in establishing courses in medical librarianship. The former includes annotations on the history and international aspects of the subject. The latter consists of annotations of articles on early courses and present courses in medical librarianship. A final area discussed is the Medical Library Association's Code for the Training and Certification of Medical Librarians.     

Perceived contingency of teacher administered reinforcements and academic performance of boys

To determine the relationships among perceived contingency of teacher administered reinforcements, locus of control, and academic achievement, 49 sixth-grade boys were studied. In general, subjects who perceived their teachers as contingently punitive to boys were internal in locus of control and performed well on measures of academic achievement. An internal locus of control was also predictive of academic achievement. Perceived contingency of teacher rewards was not related to locus of control or academic achievement. These results were discussed as supporting the identity of learned helplessness and locus of control and the Seligman, Maier, and Solomon (1971) theory of learned helplessness.     

Higher Education and Public Good

Policy debate about whether to maintain public subsidies for higher education has stimulated reconsideration of the public mission of higher education institutions, especially those that provide student places conferring private benefits. If the work of higher education institutions is defined simply as the aggregation of private interests, this evaporates the rationale for higher education institutions as distinctive social foundations with multiple public and private roles. The private benefits could be produced elsewhere. If that is all there is to higher education institutions, they could follow the Tudor monasteries into oblivion. But what is ‘public’ in higher education institutions? What could be ‘public’? What should be ‘public’? The paper reviews the main notions of ‘public’ (public goods in economics, public understood as collective good and Habermas' public sphere) noting the contested and politicised environment in which notions of ‘public’ must find purchase. A turn to global public goods offers the most promising strategy for re‐grounding the ‘public’ character of higher education.     

A review of tennis racket performance parameters

The application of advanced engineering to tennis racket design has influenced the nature of the sport. As a result, the International Tennis Federation has established rules to limit performance, with the aim of protecting the nature of the game. This paper illustrates how changes to the racket affect the player-racket system. The review integrates engineering and biomechanical issues related to tennis racket performance, covering the biomechanical characteristics of tennis strokes, tennis racket performance, the effect of racket parameters on ball rebound and biomechanical interactions. Racket properties influence the rebound of the ball. Ball rebound speed increases with frame stiffness and as string tension decreases. Reducing inter-string contacting forces increases rebound topspin. Historical trends and predictive modelling indicate swingweights of around 0.030–0.035 kg/m² are best for high ball speed and accuracy. To fully understand the effect of their design changes, engineers should use impact conditions in their experiments, or models, which reflect those of actual tennis strokes. Sports engineers, therefore, benefit from working closely with biomechanists to ensure realistic impact conditions.     

Determining optimal cadence for an individual road cyclist from field data

The cadence that maximises power output developed at the crank by an individual cyclist is conventionally determined using a laboratory test. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (i) to show that such a cadence, which we call the optimal cadence, can be determined using power output, heart-rate, and cadence measured in the field and (ii) to describe methodology to do so. For an individual cyclist's sessions, power output is related to cadence and the elicited heart-rate using a non-linear regression model. Optimal cadences are found for two riders (83 and 70 revolutions per minute, respectively); these cadences are similar to the riders’ preferred cadences (82–92?rpm and 65–75?rpm). Power output reduces by approximately 6% for cadences 20?rpm above or below optimum. Our methodology can be used by a rider to determine an optimal cadence without laboratory testing intervention: the rider will need to collect power output, heart-rate, and cadence measurements from training and racing sessions over an extended period (>6 months); ride at a range of cadences within those sessions; and calculate his/her optimal cadence using the methodology described or a software tool that implements it.     

Perianal findings in prepubertal children selected for nonabuse: a descriptive study

The results of the perianal portion of a project designed to collect normative data of the anogenital anatomy from a representative sample of prepubertal children is presented. A total of 318 children were examined by three physicians from a child sexual abuse evaluation program. After screening for the onset of puberty and the possibility of undetected abuse, 267 subjects remained. The sample included 161 girls and 106 boys ranging in age from 2 months to 11 years. The perianal findings that were encountered with the greatest frequency included erythema (41%), increased pigmentation (30%), and venous engorgement (52%) after two minutes in the knee-chest position. Wedge-shaped smooth areas in the midline, with or without depressions, were found both anterior and posterior to the anus in 26% of the children. Anal skin tags/folds were discovered anterior to the anus in 11%. In 49% of the children there was some dilatation of the anus which opened and closed intermittently in 62%. Flattening of the anal verge and rugae occurred during dilatation by the midpoint of the examination in 44% and 34%, respectively. Perianal findings that were found infrequently in all subgroups included skin tags/folds (0%) and scars (1%) outside the midline, anal dilatation greater than 20 mm without the presence of stool in the rectal ampulla (1.2%), irregularity of the anal orifice after complete dilatation (3%), and prominence of the anal verge (3%). No abrasions, hematomas, fissures, or hemorrhoids were encountered. Less commonly detected findings within specific subgroups included perianal erythema in girls (32%) as compared to boys (57%), pigmentation in the lighter skinned white children (22%) when compared to black (53%) and Hispanic (58%) children, and venous congestion at the beginning of the examination (7%) when compared to the same findings after four minutes in the knee-chest position (73%). There were no perianal skin tags/folds found in the boys. The relatively high incidence of perianal soft tissue changes that were found in this study, when compared to the frequency of similar observations in children suspected of having been sexually abused, reemphasizes the caution medical examiners must exercise in rendering an opinion as to the significance of medical findings.     

Making sense of learner and learning Big Data: reviewing five years of Data Wrangling at the Open University UK

Most distance learning institutions collect vast amounts of learning data. Making sense of this ‘Big Data’ can be a challenge, in particular when data are stored at different data warehouses and require advanced statistical skills to interpret complex patterns of data. As a leading institute on learning analytics, the Open University UK instigated in 2012 a Data Wrangling initiative. This provided every Faculty with a dedicated academic with expertise data analysis and whose task is to provide strategic, pedagogical and sense-making advice to staff and senior management. Given substantial changes within the OU (e.g. new Faculty structure, real-time dashboards, two large-scale adoptions of predictive analytics approaches, increased reliance on analytics), this embedded case study provides an in-depth review of lessons learned of five years of data wrangling. We will elaborate on the design of the new structure, its strengths and potential weaknesses, and affordances to be adopted by other institutions.     

Why some teachers easily learn to use a new virtual learning environment: a technology acceptance perspective

After a decade of virtual learning environments (VLEs) in higher education, many teachers still use only a minimum of its affordances. This study looked at how academic staff interacted with a new and unknown VLE in order to understand how technology acceptance and support materials influence (perceived and actual) task performance. In an experimental design, 36 participants were split into a control (online help) and experimental (instructor video) condition and completed five common teaching tasks in a new VLE. In contrast to most technology acceptance model research, this study found that perceived usefulness of the VLE was not related to (perceived) task performance. Perceived ease of use was related to intentions and actual behaviour in the VLE. Furthermore, no significant difference was found between the two conditions, although the experimental condition led to a (marginal) increase in time to complete the tasks.     

Girls in science — An evaluation of one school's approach to the gender bias in science

Conclusions As the pilot project has only been in operation for one semester there are no profound statements that can be made. What we have at present is the base information for comparison of all data over the duration of the project. Cross tabulation of the data to date has begun. However it should be re-iterated here that there appears to be a lack of understanding by the parents' as to the reason for the all-girls classes at the school and that this situation may be due to the fact that in this school community we have the typical sex-stereotyping roles and attitudes existing. The big question is, Will this intervention strategy of single-sex science classes be effective in altering the girls views about what is appropriate for them to study or follow as a career?