Semantic integration of government data for water quality management

Normative models of e-government typically assert that horizontal (i.e., inter-agency) and vertical (i.e., inter-governmental) integration of data flows and business processes represent the most sophisticated form of e-government, delivering the greatest payoff for both governments and users. This paper concentrates on the integration of data supporting water quality management as an example of how such integration can enable higher levels of e-government. It describes a prototype system that allows users to integrate water monitoring data across many federal, state, and local government organizations and provides novel techniques for information discovery, thus improving information quality and availability for decision making. Specifically, this paper outlines techniques to integrate numerous water quality monitoring data sources, to resolve data disparities, and to retrieve data using semantic relationships among data sources taking advantage of customized user profiles. Preliminary user feedback indicates that these techniques enhance quantity and quality of information available for water quality management.     

Comparison of Item Response Theory and Thurstone Methods of Vertical Scaling

Vertical achievement scales, which range from the lower elementary grades to high school, are used pervasively in educational assessment. Using simulated data modeled after real tests, the present article examines two procedures available for vertical scaling: a Thurstone method and three-parameter item response theory. Neither procedure produced artifactual scale shrinkage; both procedures produced modest scale expansion for one simulated condition.     

Quality and clarity of health information on Q&A sites

This study investigated the quality and clarity of health information from a total of 238 (126 English and 112 Chinese) answers retrieved from Yahoo!Answers sites. Registered nurses and library professionals judged information quality based on 8 criteria: accuracy, completeness, relevance, readability, verifiability, professional advice, usefulness and non-commercialization. Writing clarity was assessed through rhetorical structure analysis. Results showed that 46% of answers were of poor quality. Furthermore, many Q&A site users were unable to distinguish adequately between high- and low-quality answers. Only 60% of their selected best-answers corresponded to those of the health professionals. These results indicate that the reliability of health information on Q&A sites is questionable. This unreliability may partially be due to the fact that Q&A site answers contain both medical information and social support. Although both are important, they are not always compatible. It may even be dangerous to mistakenly present social support as objective medical information. This research suggests that medical advice and social support should be separated. This has a further advantage in that medical advice could be subjected to stringent, necessary quality assurance measures, without interfering with social support.     

Qualitative analysis of parents' information needs and psychosocial experiences when supporting children with health care needs

OBJECTIVE: To identify the information needs of parents of children with health care needs. METHODS: A series of three focus groups and one in-depth interview were held with parents (n = 10, 90% female) in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK. RESULTS: Findings were grouped into four themes: delivery of information; levels of support; relationship between the family and professional; and management of events. Parents expressed a preference for information to be delivered on a verbal, 'one-to-one' basis by a professional, supplemented by accessible, written reference materials. The provision of a contact telephone number for a named professional, so further information could be obtained when required, was identified as a key source of support. Participants emphasized the importance of being consulted about the care of their child, the interaction between professional and child, and also of being treated as an individual by the professional. CONCLUSIONS: Delivery of information to parents may be most effective on a verbal, 'one-to-one' basis with a professional, in conjunction with written accessible general and child-specific reference materials. The importance to parents of the provision of contact details for a named professional and specialist nurse support is also emphasized. The psychosocial experiences of parents, along with the impact of the relationship between family and professional, and requirement for good channels of communication, must be taken into account by professionals during the care of children with health care needs. These findings have important implications for professionals and service providers for the future delivery of information to parents of children with health care needs.     

Opportunities for intra-university collaborations in the new research environment

ABSTRACT

New opportunities for research collaborations within universities are explored through reflection on a recent collaboration between an academic researcher, the library and the eResearch Centre at a regional Australian university. Such opportunities arise from significant changes to the research landscape, including increased emphasis on open access publication of research outputs and the growth of eResearch capabilities. The latter has resulted in increases in data size and complexity and provides opportunities for collaboration across research institutions. This article reflects on the dynamics and assesses the outcomes of a collaboration formed during an externally funded open research data project. This project and a precursor project are briefly described, together with the specific contribution of each collaborator. Collaboration dynamics and the reasons for project success are assessed, as are implications for future research practice. Outcomes from eResearch collaborations may provide broader benefits to universities, as well as rewards to academic researchers.     

A Reinforcement Sensitivity Perspective on Adolescents’ Susceptibility to the Influence of Soap Opera Viewing on Alcohol Attitudes

Previous research found support for an association between exposure to alcohol-related media content and alcohol attitudes, intentions and behavior. Nevertheless, research on what makes young people susceptible to the occurrence of this relationship is scarce. The current study examined the behavioral activation (BAS) and inhibition system (BIS) as moderators of the relationship between soap opera viewing and alcohol attitudes. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among a sample of 922 adolescents (M_age = 14.96 years, SD = .85, 56% girls). Regression analyses showed no association between total television viewing and alcohol attitudes, but did confirm that soap opera viewing is associated with positive attitudes towards alcohol use. Moderation analyses indicated that BAS did not moderate this relationship, while BIS did; the relationship between soap opera viewing and positive attitudes toward alcohol was only significant for adolescents with a low BIS-profile. These results provide support for the premise that an elevated BIS protects adolescents from the effect of soap opera viewing frequency on their alcohol attitudes.     

Embodied Pathways and Ethical Trails: Studying Learning in and through Relational Histories

Studies of embodied cognition offer powerful accounts of the semiotic resources people use as they think together within different domains. Yet this research does not typically foreground the history of relationships within focal interactions—a history we have found to be consequential to the ways embodied actions unfold. Through ethnographic and interactional analysis of the assistance students received in a tinkering afterschool program and the forms of assistance they enacted over time, we show how children supported one another using embodied movements that were embedded in relational histories and imbued with pedagogical and ethical values. We substantiate these findings by introducing the range of embodied movements identified within the setting, followed by a detailed analysis of three cases spanning distinct time-scales (5 minutes, 1 week, 3 years). The cases help establish the construct of embodied pathways, which we define as courses of possible action involving participants’ bodies and voices that model particular relations. We argue that the experience of receiving embodied assistance creates resources for mediation in the future, as seen in subsequent acts of guidance and solidarity across children. More broadly, we argue for greater attention to how people learn to be in relation within research on embodied learning.     

Integrating formative evaluation into a learner-centred revision course

This article describes a learner-centred course which ran in summer 1988. It was ostensibly a revision exercise, using computer assisted learning (CAL), but an element of formative evaluation was deliberately built into the process, making it contribute to our systematic review and development of our teaching. Our aim was to take snapshots of learning at different stages, through a short but intensive revision class in mathematics for engineering and science undergraduates at a Scottish university
The CALM Project—Computer Aided Learning in Mathematics—has produced 2 5 software units to enhance the teaching of calculus to large groups of undergraduates. The CALM software was piloted by one group of students and a formative evaluation of the packages has been reported elsewhere (Beevers et al 1987, Beevers et al 1988a). This revision course enabled us to confirm many of the previous evaluation findings on the CALM software; we also discovered that a round-up session on problem-solving is an important and integral part of the learning process. The evaluation proved useful to us as teachers of mathematics, and has already influenced the future development of our CAL work.