Entity ranking in Wikipedia: utilising categories,links and topic difficulty prediction

Entity ranking has recently emerged as a research field that aims at retrieving entities as answers to a query. Unlike entity extraction where the goal is to tag names of entities in documents, entity ranking is primarily focused on returning a ranked list of relevant entity names for the query. Many approaches to entity ranking have been proposed, and most of them were evaluated on the INEX Wikipedia test collection. In this paper, we describe a system we developed for ranking Wikipedia entities in answer to a query. The entity ranking approach implemented in our system utilises the known categories, the link structure of Wikipedia, as well as the link co-occurrences with the entity examples (when provided) to retrieve relevant entities as answers to the query. We also extend our entity ranking approach by utilising the knowledge of predicted classes of topic difficulty. To predict the topic difficulty, we generate a classifier that uses features extracted from an INEX topic definition to classify the topic into an experimentally pre-determined class. This knowledge is then utilised to dynamically set the optimal values for the retrieval parameters of our entity ranking system. Our experiments demonstrate that the use of categories and the link structure of Wikipedia can significantly improve entity ranking effectiveness, and that topic difficulty prediction is a promising approach that could also be exploited to further improve the entity ranking performance.     

Towards Covid-19 Literacy

Covid-19 literacy, induced by the coronavirus disease (2019), is characterized as the understanding of Covid-19 as well as informed decisions based upon this understanding. This type of literacy is closely related to health literacy, scientific literacy, and scientific media literacy. It may be obvious to say that Covid-19 literacy is a key factor for governments to effectively manage the Covid-19 transition. However, lack of literature exists about Covid-19 literacy among university students. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the Covid-19 literacy level among 4168 students from a Colombian university. The data were derived from students’ responses to a 25–item anonymous online self-reporting questionnaire. We found that 21–25-year age group, graduate students,?students enrolled prior to 2015, and medical students had a significantly higher mean score. Moreover, the Internet (86.8%) was the most popular source of information from which participants gained most information regarding Covid-19. Furthermore, 58.5% of the participants considered health workers as a source that can provide accurate information. Most importantly, the findings reveal the students’ knowledge about (1) the role of an eventual process of vaccination, (2) the test currently used as diagnostic for Covid-19, and (3) the fatality rate, three aspects of Covid-19 literacy that deserve more attention. The findings provide a useful basis for the formulation of policies and concrete actions in improving Covid-19 literacy.

     

Rethinking the Boundaries of Cognitive Load Theory in Complex Learning

Educational Psychology Review - In the traditional framework of cognitive load theory, it is assumed that the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge structures (or schemas) is the only...     

Self-perceived stability and change in children’s competence

Using Harter’s (Child Dev 53(1):87–97, 1982) perceived competence scale, this study integrates several paradigms related to the issues of self-perceived competence, stability or change and attributional theory. It examines how 268 Belgian and Portuguese fifth graders consider their scholastic, social and physical competence at present and in a retrospective or prospective time perspective. The children were also asked to rate the causes of their self-perceived competence-related stability or change. Nearly all of the children who saw change indicated that they had changed/would change in a positive way. Children more often thought that they would change in the future than that they had changed in the past. Children who saw change also made more internal attributions (effort and ability) than children who saw only stability. Finally, the results varied consistently between the Belgian and the Portuguese samples, indicating cross-cultural differences which are tentatively illuminated by macro-systemic considerations referring to educational policy in the two countries.     

Effectiveness of peers in delivering programs or motivating older people to increase their participation in physical activity: Systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of peers to deliver programs or encourage older people to be physically active and improve physical outcomes. Peer reviewed articles published in English between January 1976 and June 2016, retrieved from six databases according to the predefined inclusion criteria were included. Where possible results were pooled and meta-analyses conducted. Eighteen articles were included in the review, a total of 3,492 intervention participants, average age 66.5 years and 67.1% were female. Overall, study quality was medium to high. Interventions mainly included resistance, flexibility and cardiovascular training, however there was one aquatic exercise group. Eight studies were delivered by peers and five utilised peer support, which included advice and being positive but was not directly linked to an exercise intervention. While 16 of the 18 studies reported improvement in levels of physical activity and/or noted physical benefits by peer involvement, the meta-analyses findings supported the control groups for the six-minute-walk-test and the timed-up-and-go test. Findings from this review suggest exercise programs involving peers can promote and maintain adherence to exercise programs. However, results were inconclusive as to whether peers have a positive effect on improving older people’s physical function.     

Problematic placement: pathways pre-service teachers’ perspectives on their infant/toddler placement

The inclusion of an infant/toddler placement in a ‘pathways’ early childhood teaching degree, where students already have qualifications and experience in working with young children, can be problematic. This pilot study investigated student teachers’ views on their infant/toddler (birth-to-two-years) placement. Sixty-six students completing their early childhood education degree at an Australian university responded to a survey seeking their perspectives on the effectiveness of the placement in developing teacher confidence, knowledge and skills, and the quality of the supervision they received. The participants had entered their degree with a two-year Diploma of Children’s Services. Responses indicated significant dissatisfaction with the quality of supervision, the absence of teacher-mentors, and the lack of opportunities to practise new approaches. Participants commented that they ‘already knew’ how to work with this age group, and that they aspired to work with older children. The results align with other findings on factors associated with positive placements, and raise questions about the effectiveness of the infant/toddler placement in its current form.     

Accommodating Employees with Disabilities: Perceptions of Irish Academic Library Managers

This research study investigated the views and practice of third level academic library managers in the Republic of Ireland regarding reasonable accommodation of employees with disabilities (as defined in the Irish Employment Equality Act 1998 as amended by the Equality Act 2004 Equality Act. 2010. 2010 Chapter 15. 8 Web. Apr. 2010 <http://www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_act_2010.aspx> [Google Scholar]).

A mixed methods study (sample of 163 library managers) employed both an online survey (response rate 108/163) and follow-up telephone interviews (23% of respondents). Questions were based on a literature review.

Library managers were aware of a legal duty to accommodate. A majority of library managers subscribed to the social model of disability rather than the medical model. They were less aware of the needs of employees with less visible disabilities. A small majority of library managers reported the presence of an accommodation procedure at their college. A large majority of library managers would not spend more than 0–10% of the library budget on accommodation—in practice, this should be sufficient. A small majority believe that a legal obligation to accommodate is necessary. A majority would adopt a graduated approach (informal to formal) in relation to discriminatory conduct.

On the whole, the legislation was working in practice. However, further disability awareness training of staff was required, and further research should examine the views of library staff with disabilities.     

Understanding the Relationship Between the Librarian and the Academic

This article presents the findings of a small study that examined the relationship between academic librarians and their academic colleagues in a number of institutions in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. There is an abundance of literature outlining how librarians should collaborate with their academic colleagues but less emphasis on what librarians are doing in practice. This research explores the collaborative aspect of this relationship with a focus on information literacy training. Research findings look at factors which encourage and inhibit collaboration and challenges librarians face in achieving successful collaboration.     

Rethinking the multi-level perspective of technological transitions

In recent years numerous articles have been published which advocate a multi-level perspective (MLP) for the analysis of long-term technological transitions. This paper reviews current transitions research and considers the limitations of the MLP which need to be addressed to enhance understanding of processes of innovation affecting the transformation of technology and society. The paper suggests ways in which the MLP may be effectively rethought, based on more thoroughgoing application of a co-evolutionary concept of technological transitions.     

The role of community in the development of elite handball and football players in Denmark

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the place of early development in a sample of Danish male elite and youth handball and football players. The sample included 366 handball and football players from the elite Danish league in the season 2011–2012 and a comparison sample of youth players under the age of 12 from 2003, including 147,221 football and 26,290 handball players. Odds ratio analysis showed that both population size and density significantly affected the proportional number of youth players per community and the odds of athletes reaching an elite level in football and handball. The odds for youth player registrations in both handball and football increased in rural in contrast to urban communities. However, elite football players primarily came from communities of high density (>1000 pop./km²), whereas elite handball players primarily came from less densely populated communities (100 to <250 pop./km²). Furthermore, there seems to be a relation between representation of elite and talent clubs in different communities and the probability of becoming an elite player in both sports. The limited number of elite players in both sports from rural communities may be due to national talent development strategies that do not incorporate development support for clubs in rural areas. Additionally, the results of the study clearly suggest the need to include the youth player population to advance research findings in birthplace effect studies.