Evaluating a monolingual multinational digital library by using usability: An exploratory approach from a developing country

In this paper the authors present a preliminary discussion on some of the results from a survey aimed to explore, describe and explain some of the usability characteristics in digital libraries evaluation in the Mexican context. The study is framed in the evaluation of a multinational and monolingual digital library: the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library, from the University of Alicante in Spain. The evaluators were Mexican “expert” users (i.e. Spanish-speaking professional university librarians specialized in electronic reference services) who were asked to carry on an evaluation instrument based on usability criteria as taken from some models in developed countries. Some questions that might be answered with future research are outlined in this paper.     

THE GENETIC ASPECTS OF HIGH INTELLIGENCE

A cohort of 71 pairs of twins was studied in a project which started within the decade 1965 to 1975. The total level of intelligence (global IQ) and the level of particular intellectual components have been examined annually since the twins were two years of age. The data were analysed by comparing monozygotic and dizygotic twins. The results revealed that high intelligence is influenced much more by hereditary than exogenous factors. Furthermore, there is an irregularity in the development of intellectual level from childhood to adulthood. Consequently, decision making about children cannot be carried out on the basis of a single IQ evaluation. A cluster analysis demonstrated the importance of hereditary factors not only on intellectual level, but also on the pattern of intellectual development.     

Impact absorption of tennis shoe-surface combinations

The aim of this study was to investigate, for typical shoes and surfaces used in tennis, the relative role of the shoe and surface in providing cushioning during running. Five test surfaces ranging from concrete to artificial turf were selected, together with two shoe models. Impact absorbing ability was assessed mechanically using drop test procedures and biomechanically using peak magnitude and rate of loading of impact force and peak in-shoe pressure data at the lateral heel. Differences in biomechanical variables between shoe-surface combinations were identified using a two-way ANOVA (p < 0.05). Mechanical test results were found to rank the surfaces in the same order regardless of the shoe model, suggesting that the surface is influential in providing cushioning. However, for all mechanical and biomechanical (p < 0.05) variables representing impact absorbing ability, it was found that the difference between shoes was markedly greater than the differences between surfaces. The peak heel pressure data were found to rank the surfaces in the same order as the mechanical tests, while impact force data were not as sensitive to the changes in surface. Correlations between mechanical and biomechanical impact absorption highlighted the importance of testing the shoe-surface combination in mechanical tests, rather than the surface alone. In conclusion, mechanical testing of the shoe-surface combination was found to provide a strong predictor of the impact absorbing ability during running if pressure data were used. In addition, for typical shoe-surface combinations in tennis, the shoe was found to have more potential than the surface to influence impact loading during running. Finally, in-shoe pressure data were found to be more sensitive than force plate data to changes in material cushioning.     

Stress sensitivity and reading performance in Spanish: A study with children

This paper investigates the relationship between ability to detect changes in prosody and reading performance in Spanish. Participants were children aged 7–8 years. Their tasks consisted of reading words, reading non‐words, stressing non‐words and reproducing sequences of two, three or four non‐words by pressing the corresponding keys on the computer keyboard. Non‐word sequences were constructed with minimal non‐word pairs differing in a single phoneme (/kúpi/ ‐ /kúti/) or in the stress pattern (/mípa/ ‐ /mipá/). Results showed that performance on phoneme contrast sequences (e.g. /kúpi/ ‐ /kúti/) predicted word reading. In contrast, performance on stress contrast sequences (e.g. /mípa/ ‐ /mipá/) predicted non‐word reading, but only when two‐non‐word sequences were analysed. This suggests that stress sensitivity may be one of the factors related to reading fluency as most errors at reading non‐words consisted of false starts and pauses between syllables. Results also showed that stress sensitivity (scored in two non‐word sequences) predicted stress assignment, and that knowledge of stress rules predicted both word and non‐word reading. This suggests that stress sensitivity may help in learning stress rules, and that knowledge of stress rules is relevant for reading.