Earth's Surface Water Percentage?

A hands-on activity is used to illustrate standard point and interval estimates of a proportion. Since the proportion is more or less known, the accuracy of these estimates can be assessed. A hypothesis test associated with the interval estimate is also given.     

Lessons learned from unsuccessful experiences

This is the first guest column for “Managing Technology”. We hope it typifies the central theme of challenges to managers presented by information technology and the lessons we may share from their application. This essay is of signal interest, appearing as it does at a watershed in library automation. We may expect a wholesale shift in the next several years from single machine integrated systems to distributed computing technologies and a client/server model. The five “lessons learned” in the Oklahoma State experience will be broadly applicable in the next wave of library automation.—C.B.L.     

Interleukin-6 and delayed onset muscle soreness do not vary during the menstrual cycle

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference in interleukin-6 (IL-6) and delayed onset muscles soreness (DOMS) exists in two different phases of the menstrual cycle. Nine runners performed one 75-min high-intensity interval running session during the early follicular (EF) phase and once during the midluteal (ML) phase of the menstrual cycle. Estrogen and progesterone levels were significantly reduced in the EF phase when compared to the ML phase. IL-6 levels increased from pre- to postexercise in the EF and ML phases (p < .001). There was no relationship between the IL-6 level and DOMS. The results suggest that menstruating female runners need not vary training throughout the month to reduce DOMS.     

Why We Are Not Google: Lessons from a Library Web site Usability Study

In the Fall of 2009, the Moraine Valley Community College Library, using guidelines developed by Jakob Nielsen, conducted a usability study to determine how students were using the library Web site and to inform the redesign of the Web site. The authors found that Moraine Valley's current gateway design was a more effective access point to library resources than a mock-up site which incorporated a central-search box on the site homepage. This finding stands in contrast to the observed trends of library Web site design that emphasizes a “Googlized” search.