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Friday, April 5, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Aardvark Co-Founder Max Ventilla Departs Google To Read A Lot Of Books On Education
One of the early proponents of social search and part of Google?s social team has left the company, and he has a big reading list ahead of him. Max Ventilla, co-founder of early social search company Aardvark and recent member of the Google+ team, had his last day at Google yesterday.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/DJjyaXZWtPk/
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Language by mouth and by hand
Apr. 3, 2013 ? Humans favor speech as the primary means of linguistic communication. Spoken languages are so common many think language and speech are one and the same. But the prevalence of sign languages suggests otherwise. Not only can Deaf communities generate language using manual gestures, but their languages share some of their design and neural mechanisms with spoken languages.
New research by Northeastern University's Prof. Iris Berent further underscores the flexibility of human language and its robustness across both spoken and signed channels of communication.
In a paper published in PLOS ONE, Prof. Berent and her team show that English speakers can learn to rapidly recognize key structures of American Sign Language (ASL), despite no previous familiarity with this language.
Like spoken languages, signed languages construct words from meaningless syllables (akin to can-dy in English) and distinguish them from morphemes (meaningful units, similar to the English can-s). The research group examined whether non-signers might be able to discover this structure.
In a series of experiments, Prof. Berent and her team (Amanda Dupuis, a graduate student at Northeastern University, and Dr. Diane Brentari of the University of Chicago) asked English speakers to identify syllables in novel ASL signs. Results showed that these non-signing adults quickly learned to identify the number of signed syllables (one vs. two), and they could even distinguish syllables from morphemes.
Remarkably, however, people did not act as indiscriminate general-purpose learners. While they could easily learn to discern the structure of ASL signs, they were unable to do so when presented with signs that were equally complex, but violated the structure of ASL (as well as any known human language).
The results suggest that participants extended their linguistic knowledge from spoken language to sign language. This finding is significant because it shows that linguistic principles are abstract, and they can apply to both speech and sign. Nonetheless, Dr. Berent explains, language is also constrained, as not all linguistic principles are equally learnable. "Our present results do not establish the origin of these limitations -- whether they only result from people's past experience with English, or from more general design properties of the language system. But regardless of source, language transcends speech, as people can extend their linguistic knowledge to a new modality."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northeastern University College of Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Iris Berent, Amanda Dupuis, Diane Brentari. Amodal Aspects of Linguistic Design. PLOS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e60617 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060617
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/fGbR0Ilk8Oo/130403200208.htm
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LIS Education Q&A with Toni Samek, 2007 Teaching Award Winner
To reconnect with them and catch up with their current thinking, we recently sent five questions to each of the first five winners of the LJ Teaching Award. Their thoughtful responses will be featured in this online series sponsored by ProQuest.
Our fifth and last interview: Toni Samek, winner of the first Teaching Award in 2007, is a Professor, School of Library & Information Studies at the University?of Alberta, in Edmonton.
What are the most important or urgent current issues in library education?
I think Richard J. Cox did a superior job of addressing this very subject in his book The Demise of the Library School: Personal Reflections on Professional Education in the Modern Corporate University (Duluth, MN: Library Juice Press, 2010). ?I reviewed the book for the Canadian Association of University Teachers CAUT Bulletin. I?ll take the liberty here to quote a little bit of what I wrote there, because it answers the question to the best of my ability.
Why do students come to university and what do they experience when they get there? What are our responsibilities to cultivate intellectual curiosity, reading, writing, literacy in all its forms, critical thinking, intellectual freedom and open and frank debate, continuous learning, knowledge dissemination and public policy? To what extent will such fundamentals be determined by current models of computer literacy and information literacy in service of business and the marketplace? And what role therein will the library and iSchools play both consciously and unconsciously? This is what I am left pondering after reading this book.
Cox writes: ?Given the nature and mission of LIS (library and information studies) schools, I wonder just why it appears that we hear so little about such matters of academic freedom in the classroom in these schools. Considering what we teach and what our students are preparing to do, one might guess that the old library school and its successor could be a beehive of controversy. Generally, however, they?re pretty quiet. Why is that?? (p. 41)
Subsequently, Cox observes: ?Over the past century we have watched libraries and archives being destroyed because they represent symbolic identity and community memory. Destroy them, and you destroy a people?s identity.? (p. 59) What is the future of academic identity? Is it delivering (not teaching) technical information competency credentials, workshops, institutes and in-service training programs? Is information security akin to knowledge stewardship? Is information a specialty? Is the professional school with curricular flexibility and course-based graduate programs inherent to the modern university?
That is what this book asks. And the questions are good ones.
Are there too many people graduating with an LIS degree??Are there too many library school programs?
To reframe the question a bit, I am more concerned about what class of laborers we are producing. ?In 2011, I co-authored an article with Anthony Worman titled ?Digital labour shortage: A new divide in library and information studies education?? In this work, we took a look at the extent to which ?digital labour? is apparent in contemporary library and information studies education language, including in course titles, course descriptions, and course content through examination of a global range of online publicly accessible LIS program information. We found that LIS education language does not take into account the labour conditions that frame the work. A potential paradigm in LIS education, as far as we could predict then, negates the basic idea of digital labor movement. I don?t think this does our MLIS graduates any favors. For example, Anthony and I posed the questions:
Are these future digital labourers prepared to simply work in a digital world because that is the market trend, or are they also prepared to effect change by advocating and negotiating their rights as workers, not to mention those of the people they might administer, manage and mind? Projecting ahead, what is the potential for LIS education to prepare its teachers and students to critique digital labour from multiple perspectives and ultimately to contribute to innovative socially responsible design and re-design of that labour framework? ?(p. 76)
Article Source: Anthony Worman and Toni Samek. (2011). ?Digital labour shortage: A new divide in library and information studies education??. Information, Society & Justice. Vol. 4. No. 2. (December 2011. Pages 71-82.
Is there any significant difference between online courses and in-class programs/mixed programs? Should one accreditation of a program cover both kinds of teaching and learning?
An MLIS program is an MLIS program, so ALA-accreditation naturally covers all teaching and learning modes. That said, there is a danger of an emergent two-tiered model, where some programs might be taught largely by contract or contingent workers off the tenure track stream and therefore not enjoying the rights and responsibilities of academic freedom, while others might be taught with a higher representation of secure scholars.
William Gibson was quoted in The Economist, December 4, 2003 saying: ?The future is already here? it?s just not evenly distributed?. ?Looking forward, we can expect to be in a distributed faculty model, heavily based in distance education and satellite campuses, and where many of us will teach from home offices and/or with mobile technologies on the road?and certainly for more than one institution. This model pushes the unbundling of academic work, including teaching.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing your current class of students?
Issues of high magnitude: war not peace, global warming, muzzling of scientists, and self-censorship. In the context of our field, IFLA?s 2012 Code of Conduct for Library and Information Workers states in Section 5. (on ?Neutrality, personal integrity and professional skills?) that: ?Librarians and other information workers have the right to free speech in the workplace provided it does not infringe the principle of neutrality towards users.? But this is a persuasion and consensus building document; IFLA has no enforcement authority over any library administration. I might well be biased, but I feel very strongly that we need more MLIS courses on intellectual freedom and social responsibility in librarianship. For example, one of the most important resources for students to learn about, in my view, is the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund. We would be wise to remember the words of H.G. Wells: ?human history is more and more a race between education and catastrophe.?
What impact has the award had on your career?
Big! The LJ Teaching Award has had a categorically positive impact on my life and labor. First and foremost, I am able to take more risks in my teaching because of it; there is a trust currency that comes with it. Second, in part, it led to my receiving other teaching awards that serve to raise awareness of the value of library and information studies to the academic enterprise. In 2009, I received a Faculty of Education Graduate Teaching Award. In 2012, I received a 3M National Teaching Fellowship, which is the most prestigious teaching award in Canadian higher education (ten are awarded annually across the country across disciplines). I am the first person to receive the award for teaching in the field of library and information studies. This shows how the collective matrix of LIS education has positive power. Third, The LJ Teaching Award is the conditional stepping stone that gave me the necessary confidence to grow into a conscious activist educator and to be recognized as such with praise not punishment.
Because I was lucky enough to receive the first LJ Teaching Award in its debut year in 2007, I feel a strong sense of responsibility to champion the award. To me, the LJ Teaching Award stands for the beginning of a particular journey in contribution to educational leadership for common good, not an end point of personal accomplishment.
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Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Mortality rates have increased at hospitals in rural communities for certain conditions
Apr. 2, 2013 ? In an analysis that included data on more than 10 million Medicare beneficiaries admitted to acute care hospitals with a heart attack, congestive heart failure, or pneumonia between 2002 and 2010, 30-day mortality rates for those admitted to critical access hospitals (designated hospitals that provide inpatient care to individuals living in rural communities) increased during this time period compared with patients admitted to other acute care hospitals, according to a study in the April 3 issue of JAMA.
"More than 60 million Americans live in rural areas and face challenges in accessing high-quality inpatient care. In 1997, the U.S. Congress created the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) program in response to increasing rural hospital closures," according to background information in the article. "Hundreds of hospitals have joined the program over the past decade -- by 2010, nearly 1 in 4 of the nation's hospitals were CAHs. ? These hospitals are at high risk of falling behind with respect to quality improvement, owing to their limited resources and vulnerable patient populations. How they have fared on patient outcomes during the past decade is unknown."
Karen E. Joynt, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues conducted a study to evaluate trends in mortality for patients receiving care at CAHs and compared these trends with those for patients receiving care at non-CAHs. The study included data from Medicare fee-for-service patients admitted to U.S. acute care hospitals with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack; 1,902,586 admissions), congestive heart failure (4,488,269 admissions), and pneumonia (3,891,074 admissions) between 2002 and 2010. In 2010, 1,264 of 4,519 (28 percent) of U.S. hospitals providing acute care services to Medicare beneficiaries and reporting hospital characteristics to the American Hospital Association were designated as CAHs.
The researchers found that there were differences in trends in 30-day mortality rates over time between CAHs and non-CAHs for the 3 conditions examined. "When a composite across the 3 conditions was formally tested, adjusting for teaching status, ownership, region, rurality, poverty, and local physician supply, composite baseline mortality was similar between CAHs and non-CAHs (12.8 percent vs. 13.0 percent). However, between 2002 and 2010, mortality rates increased at CAHs at a rate of 0.1 percent per year, whereas at non-CAHs they decreased 0.2 percent per year, for a difference in change in mortality of 0.3 percent per year. Thus, by 2010, CAHs had higher overall mortality rates (13.3 percent vs. 11.4 percent). In total, CAH admissions were associated with 10.4 excess deaths per 1,000 admissions during the study period."
The researchers note that although CAHs had higher mortality rates by 2010 for each of the conditions examined, the absolute difference was only 1.8 percent.
Patterns were similar for each of the 3 conditions individually. Comparing CAHs with other small, rural hospitals, similar patterns were found.
"Given the substantial challenges that CAHs face, new policy initiatives may be needed to help these hospitals provide care for U.S. residents living in rural areas," the authors conclude.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Medical Association (AMA).
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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UK Energy Saving Blog: Cheap & Green Cleaning Products
If you take pride in your home, you could be one of the many people who spend up to ?200 per year on household cleaning products. If you were to take a look under your sink now, how many products would you find that have not been used in months?? Products such as drain cleaner are among the most wasted of household goods, with many bought for one use then stowed in the back of the cupboard.?
Before you buy a separate kitchen and bathroom cleaner, think, there are many products already around your home that can easily manage these jobs. By putting some of the natural cleaning products to work in your home, you can save money in a way that your nan would be proud of.
Lemons
Lemon Juice is acidic and acts as a natural bleach. By cutting a lemon in half you can create a cleaning pad for kitchen and bathroom surfaces. The citric acid will break down many deposits while the natural bleaches remove stains. By mixing one part lemon juice with two parts olive oil you can make an ideal furniture polish. The only drawback? with lemon is that the bleaches may mark some surfaces.
Baking Soda
Baking soda acts as a very strong, non-abrasive, cleaner that can replace a wide range of the cleaners in your cupboard. Leaving baking soda in an empty washing machine or dishwasher will clean them out, remove limescale and keep your drains flowing freely.? By adding lemon juice to baking soda you can make a thick paste that can be left on most surfaces. Baked-on food on pans or limescale on taps are an ideal job for this.
Vinegar
White vinegar is very acidic and, mixed in equal parts with water, makes an all-purpose household cleaner. Correctly used, this solution can be used as a surface cleaner, oven cleaner, bathroom scrub, glass cleaner, mop detergent, weed killer, brass polish, rust remover and fabric softener. Don?t be put off by the smell as this will disappear when it the vinegar dries. Make sure to use plenty of water when cleaning tiles because, if not properly diluted, vinegar will dissolve grout and discolour marble.
Rice
Rice acts as a very effective sponge that can reach into the most awkward places, coffee grinders and waste disposals can be scrubbed out by passing rice through them. It is also very good at water displacement, if you have dropped your phone in the bath, leaving it in a bowl of rice will help draw out any water.
The chemicals in most household cleaning products can be picked up by sewerage treatment works , so the majority can be safely washed down the sink.? They can, however, have a negative environmental impact if not disposed of properly. There is no danger of this happening with the above natural products. The examples given are only a small sample of the uses these products have so, by doing a bit of experimenting, there are many ways in which you can save money? and make your home that little bit greener.
Author Bio: Joe is a blogger for Force8 doors and windows who writes about property, home improvement, interior design and green living
Guest post
Source: http://uk-energy-saving.blogspot.com/2013/04/cheap-green-cleaning-products.html
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Notre Dame women beat Duke to return to Final Four
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) ? Skylar Diggins and the Notre Dame women's team have a whole week to talk about playing Connecticut again.
After a near-flawless performance in the second half lifted the Fighting Irish to an 87-76 victory over Duke on Tuesday night, earning them their third straight trip to the Final Four, Diggins and her teammates wanted to drink it in.
"We're enjoying the moment right now," the senior said with teammates Natalie Achonwa and Kayla McBride seated beside her and nodding their approval. "We'll talk about that later."
Coach Muffet McGraw wasn't biting, either.
"Not tonight," she said with a smile when asked to look ahead to another game against the Huskies.
The Irish had plenty to celebrate at Old Dominion's Constant Center.
Diggins, the flashy left-hander named an All-American for the second year in a row earlier in the day, shook off early foul trouble to score 24 points and the Fighting Irish rallied and rolled past Duke.
They shot 62 percent after halftime and finished the night with 25 assists on 29 baskets.
"That is a pretty amazing number," McGraw said.
The Irish have lost in the past two national championship games but will arrive in New Orleans with a coach hoping to see her flashy point guard cut down the nets, and with Diggins wanting it just as badly for her coach.
"I want to win a championship for coach (Muffet) McGraw bad," said Diggins, one of just two seniors on the roster. "When you have a coach who believes in you so much, I'd do anything for her."
And she clearly doesn't have to do it alone.
Kayla McBride added 18 points, while Jewell Loyd and Natalie Achonwa had 17 each as the Fighting Irish (35-1) won their school-record 30th game in a row, earning a fourth meeting with the Huskies this season.
It's also the third straight time the teams will meet in the national semifinals. The Irish won both of those and have dominated the series lately, winning seven of the past eight meetings. Notre Dame swept UConn in all three meetings this season in thrilling fashion, winning in overtime and by margins of one and two points in the other two games.
The Irish had to rally past Duke to earn the right to get there again.
Trailing by six at the half and looking disjointed without Diggins on the court, Notre Dame got back to playing up-tempo, transitional basketball after the break and took control with a 15-2 run early in the second half.
Diggins started the run with her fourth 3-pointer of the game and followed quickly with a no-look feed to Achonwa for a layup that drew an impressed roar from the crowd. Diggins added a steal and a layup, and McBride finished the burst with another 3-pointer.
Duke trailed by as many as 16 before closing the gap slightly in the desperate final minutes, and saw its season end in a regional final for the fourth straight year.
"It bothers me a little bit that we had to fight so hard at the end. It was like, 'Where's that been?'" Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "You've got to play 40 minutes at this level."
The Blue Devils also hurt their cause with 21 turnovers that led to 23 points for Notre Dame.
In the first half, the game developed better than Duke (33-3) could have hoped.
Diggins was whistled for two fouls in the first 4:10 and went to the bench, and after McBride hit a pair of jumpers, the Fighting Irish looked out of sorts. They extended their lead to 17-13 on a 3-pointer by Kaila Turner and two free throws by Ariel Braker before going more than seven minutes without scoring.
A free throw by Elizabeth Williams ignited a 13-0 run by Duke that took up over six of those minutes. Tricia Liston, who led the Blue Devils with 19 points, scored eight in the burst and Chloe Wells finished it with a 12-foot jumper, giving Duke a 26-17 lead with five minutes to play in the half.
"I think they were outworking us," Diggins said. "I've never seen that from my team. They were getting hustle scrap points. I couldn't wait to get in that locker room. We had to light a fire. We set the tone on defense and got some stops and played our game."
Getting their leader back with the foul trouble behind her helped greatly.
"Sky's the best point guard in the country and she changes the game in everything she does," Achonwa said. "Her being off the court for 20 seconds changes the game."
Diggins returned with about 8 minutes to go in the half and, while playing passively on defense to avoid a third foul, hit three 3-pointers in a span of 2:16, cutting a nine-point deficit to 32-31 with 1:07 left. A basket by Williams and Wells' 3 just before the half gave Duke a 37-31 advantage.
The weekend was a homecoming for Williams, a Virginia Beach native, but Duke's scoring leader missed several shots from in close. She finished 3 for 9 and scored eight points, roughly half her average.
"It's really hard. We felt like we deserved to be here but we didn't play a full game," Williams said.
Haley Peters added 15 points and 10 rebounds for Duke and Richa Jackson scored 12.
___
Follow Hank on twitter at: http://twitter.com/hankkurzjr
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/notre-dame-women-beat-duke-return-final-four-074033691--spt.html
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