Private schooling for low-income families: A census and comparative survey in East Delhi,India

A census and survey of schools in the slums of East Delhi, India, explored the nature and extent of private education serving low-income families, and compared inputs to public and private schooling. Around two-thirds of all schools were private unaided, with more unrecognised private than government schools. Teaching activity was found to be considerably higher in private unaided than government schools, although teacher absenteeism was lowest in government schools. Most inputs showed either comparable levels of provision in government and private unaided schools, or superiority in private unaided schools. Possible implications are explored, concerning targeted vouchers, increased regulation and self-regulation.     

Strong tests of developmental ordering hypotheses: integrating evidence from the second moment

Developmental ordering is a fundamental prediction in developmental science. However, tests of ordering hypotheses are not generally available for continuously developing variables. One promising test of developmental ordering, the shape of the relationship between 2 variables, requires that changes in each underlying variable are captured equally well across the developmental span (measures are linearly related to the variables). If either measure is more sensitive to earlier or later developmental changes in the underlying variable, the shape of the relationship changes radically. The article demonstrates that the viable alternative hypotheses for an observed developmental relationship require specific types of nonlinearity in measurement and, therefore, have testable predictions for the residuals (the second moment). Ordering as evidence in developmental science is discussed.     

Worked Examples Versus Non‐goal‐specific Problems: a test of schema development in geometry

A multiple baseline across subjects experimental design was used to compare the effects of a teaching programme designed to enhance schemata acquisition with that of worked examples, traditionally used to teach geometry to high school students. In the first treatment, students were guided to form their own personal, independent schema through the use of non‐goal‐specific questions, that is, questions that did not ask to find a single, specific unknown. The second treatment introduced students to solved examples of problems asking for specific values. Following exposure to one or other of the treatments, measures were obtained of students’ success in problem solving, the time taken and the processes used. Results show that students in both groups had gains in the number of problems solved following intervention, with those exposed to the non‐goal‐specific procedure showing greater rates of improvement and greater efficacy in their problem‐solving strategies. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for a schemata acquisition and problem‐solving hypothesis.     

Becoming a female leader in higher education: investigations from a regional university

Issues of gender imbalance in leadership have long been a significant issue in universities, as is the case across most industries. This paper explores the experiences of seven females who have successfully achieved senior leadership positions at a regional university in Australia. While the experiences of these women differ in many ways, there are certainly similarities in the challenges and adversities that they have faced, and their perceptions of what has allowed them to experience success in their leadership roles. This paper provides a number of recommendations for women aspiring to be leaders in higher education, such as committing to ongoing development, taking opportunities when presented, developing resilience, developing a track record, and seeking support, and also recommendations for institutions.     

New understandings of communities and ourselves: community-based participatory research with Alaska Native and Lower 48 youth

In the summer of 2014, students from universities in the contiguous United States (Lower 48) and Inupiat youth from Alaska carried out a pilot project as participants/co-researchers in a process called Intergenerational Dialog, Exchange, and Action (IDEA). This action-oriented, community-based, and participatory research method was first developed in 2008, as a platform for structuring dialog between adults, Elders and youth within a community, and for extending resonant ideas emerging from these discussions through Photovoice and digital storytelling amongst youth participants. This pilot study was designed to investigate the feasibility and potential of university students from the Lower 48 and Indigenous youth from Alaska to carry out the IDEA process together as co-researchers. The results of the pilot suggest that it is both possible and meaningful for IDEA to be conducted by a team of youth co-researchers. We found that participation in IDEA expanded the perspectives of youth co-researchers from both Alaska and the Lower 48 in parallel, yet different ways. Exploring the strengths of older community members, being exposed to different ways of living and being, and having opportunities to reflect on and build narratives around these ideas, allowed all the co-researchers to develop a new understanding of their own communities and their roles and responsibilities within them. This paper shares youth co-researcher reflections of the process and the ways in which the process prompted these new perspectives about themselves, their respective communities and their roles within them.     

Words matter: interpretations and implications of “para” in paraprofessional

Objective:While studies from the early 1990s show that library staff in nonlibrarian roles interpret the term “paraprofessional” as being demeaning to their roles, no recent research has been conducted on this topic. This study aims to investigate if health sciences library staff continue to have similar negative associations with the term “paraprofessional” and to determine if another term is preferred.Methods:The authors conducted a literature review to identify terms used to categorize library staff in nonlibrarian roles. Using these terms, we created an online Qualtrics survey asking participants to rank terms by preference. We distributed the survey via thirty-six professional email discussion lists, including MEDLIB-L, thirty-three MLA chapter and caucus email discussion lists, DOCLINE-L, and ACRL-HSIG-L. Survey participants included full-time and part-time health sciences library staff in any nonlibrarian position. Responses from librarians were not accepted.Results:Based on 178 completed surveys, “library staff” was the top choice of 49% of participants, over “other” (19%), “paraprofessional” (13%), “library support staff” (11%), “paralibrarian” (7%), and “nonprofessional” (1%). Although “library staff” was the top choice of participants across all ages, older participants (aged 45–75) preferred “library support staff” and “paraprofessional” to a greater degree than younger participants (aged 18–44), while younger participants preferred “other” to a greater degree. Out of 36 participants who specifically mentioned the terms “paraprofessional” or “paralibrarian,” 32 (89%) of those comments were negative, indicating that the “para” in “paraprofessional” and “paralibrarian” is either insulting, inapplicable, or unfamiliar.Conclusions:Our results suggest that although the term “paraprofessional” may not intentionally be used to demean library staff, many library staff interpret the term to be demeaning to their roles. Instead, “library staff,” a more inclusive and less divisive term, was preferred by survey participants. In accordance with our results, we believe the term “paraprofessional” should no longer be used in library and information scholarly literature or professional discourse.     

The Use of Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) Software to Create a Database of Librarian-Mediated Literature Searches

Expert-mediated literature searching, a keystone service in biomedical librarianship, would benefit significantly from regular methodical review. This article describes the novel use of Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) software to create a database of literature searches conducted at a large academic health sciences library. An archive of paper search requests was entered into REDCap, and librarians now prospectively enter records for current searches. Having search data readily available allows librarians to reuse search strategies and track their workload. In aggregate, this data can help guide practice and determine priorities by identifying users’ needs, tracking librarian effort, and focusing librarians’ continuing education.     

Managing Serials in a Large Digital Library: Case Study of the UNT Libraries Digital Collections

The Portal to Texas History (http://texashistory.unt.edu) and the University of North Texas (UNT) Digital Library (http://digital.library.unt.edu) contain more than 445,000 items collectively, hosted by the UNT Libraries. These collections include a variety of serial publications such as newsletters, magazines, scholarly journals, annual reports, and yearbooks. Many of these serials are key resources for the user groups of both repositories. In this article, we discuss the importance of serials within our collections, some of the challenges, the standards we use, and how we leverage metadata to facilitate access to serials for diverse global users.     

The health-enhancing efficacy of Zumba® fitness: An 8-week randomised controlled study

The purpose of this study was to gain a holistic understanding of the efficacy of Zumba® fitness in a community-recruited cohort of overweight and physically inactive women by evaluating (i) its physiological effects on cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers and (ii) its mental health-enhancing effects on factors of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Participants were randomly assigned to either engagement in one to two 1 h classes of Zumba® fitness weekly (intervention group; n = 10) or maintenance of habitual activity (control group; n = 10). Laboratory assessments were conducted pre- (week 0) and post-intervention (week 8) with anthropometric, physiological, inflammatory and HRQoL data collected. In the intervention group, maximal oxygen uptake significantly increased (P < 0.05; partial η² = 0.56) by 3.1 mL · kg^?1 · min^?1, per cent body fat significantly decreased (P < 0.05; partial η² = 0.42) by –1.2%, and interleukin-6 and white blood cell (WBC) count both significantly decreased (P < 0.01) by –0.4 pg · mL^?1 (partial η² = 0.96) and –2.1 × 10⁹ cells · L^?1 (partial η² = 0.87), respectively. Large magnitude enhancements were observed in the HRQoL factors of physical functioning, general health, energy/fatigue and emotional well-being. When interpreted in a community-based physical activity and psychosocial health promotion context, our data suggest that Zumba® fitness is indeed an efficacious health-enhancing activity for adults.