Value and impact: New trends in evaluating library and information services

This paper presents some recent approaches to the evaluation of library/information services, focusing on those which try to assess the ‘real’ value and impact of the services. The question of evaluating the ‘real’ contribution of library and information services is a difficult one. Many services have relied on measuring activity - e.g. number of visits, number of documents supplied, number of accesses to digital materials – but this is never fully satisfactory. This presentation discusses some recent trends and methods for assessing the ‘true value’ of library / information services, and their impact on the work and life of their users. This will be done partly by reporting on the literature, partly by an account of evaluations carried out by the presenters. Particular emphasis will be placed on examples of methods for assigning an economic value to library services, for assessing the direct impact of information services on the work of their users, and for understanding how and why library services are valuable. Transferability of methods between sectors – national, special and public libraries – will also be highlighted

The prevalence of medical reasons for non-participation in the Scottish breast and bowel cancer screening programmes

Objective: Increasing uptake of cancer screening is a priority for health systems internationally, however, some patients may not attend because they are undergoing active treatment for the cancer of interest or have other medical reasons that mean participation would be inappropriate. This study aims to quantify the proportion of non-participants who have a medical reason for not attending cancer screening.<p></p> Methods: Medical reasons for not participating in breast and bowel screening were defined a priori on the basis of a literature review and expert opinion. The notes of 700 patients at two GP practices in Scotland were reviewed, to ascertain the prevalence of medical reasons amongst non-participants. Simple proportions and confidence intervals were calculated.<p></p> Results: 17.4% of breast and 2.3% of bowel screening non-participants had a medical reason to not participate. The two most common reasons were previous breast cancer follow up (8.86%) and recent mammogram (6.57%).<p></p> Conclusion: These patients may not benefit from screening while also being distressed by receiving an invitation. This issue also makes accurate monitoring and target-setting for improving uptake difficult. Further work is needed to estimate robustly the extent to which medical reasons account for screening non-participation in a larger population.<p></p&gt

Extrusion Freeforming of Nylon 6 Materials

Numerous commercial rapid prototyping (RP) processes are capable offabricating complex shaped components. These processes build prototypes "from the ground up" by first reducing a CAD design ofthe desired prototype to a series ofgeometrical slices followed by the precise sequential deposition ofraw material layers upon one another. Unfortunately, these RP processes are limited to producing prototypes from polYmers that exhibit inferior mechanical properties compared to commercial engineering thermoplastics. Consequently, there are significant advantages in extending the materials processing capabilities ofRP technology into the realm ofproducing tough, high strength functional prototypes from engineering polYmers.Mechanical Engineerin

Structural precursor to the metal-insulator transition in V_2O_3

The temperature dependence of the local structure of V_2O_3 in the vicinity of the metal to insulator transition (MIT) has been investigated using hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy. It is shown that the vanadium pair distance along the hexagonal c-axis changes abruptly at the MIT as expected. However, a continuous increase of the tilt of these pairs sets in already at higher temperatures and reaches its maximum value at the onset of the electronic and magnetic transition. These findings confirm recent theoretical results which claim that electron-lattice coupling is important for the MIT in V_2O_3. Our results suggest that interactions in the basal plane play a decisive role for the MIT and orbital degrees of freedom drive the MIT via changes in hybridization.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Effects of Acute Physical Activity on NIH Toolbox-Measured Cognitive Functions Among Children in Authentic Education Settings

Introduction: Identifying a dose of physical activity (PA) that can improve cognitive function in children has important implications for school-day PA recommendations. Researchers and educators have interest in this link as it relates to both health and academic performance. This study examined the dose-response relationship between PA and improvement in cognition in a sample of fifth and sixth grade students. Methods: Participants (n = 156) from eight classes each completed two of four different cognitive assessments on an iPad, both before and after exposure to one of four randomized, 10-min PA conditions (sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous). Conditions were standardized through use of videos to lead movement, and participants wore accelerometers to confirm fidelity to PA condition. The four cognitive assessments were selected from the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery, and included Dimensional Change Card Sort, Flanker, Pattern Comparison, and Picture Sequence Memory tests. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to estimate the effects of condition on each test using an intention to treat analysis. Results: Fidelity to PA condition was acceptable for sedentary and light conditions, but became less precise for moderate and vigorous conditions. No significant time by condition interaction was observed for any of the cognitive assessment scores. Conclusions: Results did not substantiate a dose-response link between PA intensity and selected measures of cognitive function. More research is needed to investigate the potentially nuanced effects of short bouts of PA on cognitive functioning in children

Understanding our value: assessing the nature of the impact of library services

This paper reports an approach to assessing the nature of the impact and benefit of library services, based on the concepts introduced in Urquhart's Value Project for healthcare information services. Two studies are described and compared. A project in the City of London public library service examined the benefits obtained from specific information requests. A project in several public library services in South West England examined the value obtained from the borrowing and reading of books, linking this with categories of learning objectives. These studies showed the promise, and also the difficulties, of adapting existing impact frameworks to understand the nature of the impact and value of library services

Mapping the Evolution of Optically-Generated Rotational Wavepackets in a Room Temperature Ensemble of D2_2

A coherent superposition of rotational states in D$_2$ has been excited by nonresonant ultrafast (12 femtosecond) intense (2 $\times$ 10$^{14}$ Wcm$^{-2}$) 800 nm laser pulses leading to impulsive dynamic alignment. Field-free evolution of this rotational wavepacket has been mapped to high temporal resolution by a time-delayed pulse, initiating rapid double ionization, which is highly sensitive to the angle of orientation of the molecular axis with respect to the polarization direction, $\theta$. The detailed fractional revivals of the neutral D$_2$ wavepacket as a function of $\theta$ and evolution time have been observed and modelled theoretically.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. A. Full reference to follow.

Cell encapsulation systems toward modular tissue regeneration: from immunoisolation to multifunctional devices

publishe