Frameworking CRAAP: How We\u27re Correlating the ACRL Framework to Content Evaluation with the CRAAP Test in Our Instruction Practices

For years, we have used the CRAAP Test as an information evaluation mechanism in our instruction sessions. We apply it to everyday, real-life stories, and to complex research as needed. Currently, we are adapting our practices of CRAAP Test instruction by expanding the evaluation to include the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Specifically, we have given each CRAAP letter a frame for discussion when evaluating. This presentation will cover what frames we have assigned to each letter, why, and the assessment of the instruction using these concepts

A groundwater vulnerability screening methodology for Northern Ireland

A requirement of the EU Water Framework Directive is the assessment of the risk of groundwater contamination within those groundwater bodies identified in each Member State. In order to carry out the risk assessments, knowledge of the vulnerability of groundwater is necessary. The report is in two parts: first, a description of the groundwater screening methodology is made. This methodology was originally developed for use in Scotland, but has now been adapted for use in Northern Ireland, taking into account local data availability. Second, the creation of the GIS-based 1:250 000 scale groundwater vulnerability map using suitable data is described. Groundwater vulnerability is defined as the tendency and likelihood for general contaminants to reach the water table after introduction at the ground surface. All groundwater is to some degree vulnerable and the screening tool produced for the current project is designed to reflect the ability of contaminants to reach the water table surface across Northern Ireland. It is not intended as a complete solution to risk assessment and should be used as a regional guide to the possible degree of specific site investigation required at any locality. The screening methodology applies to the situation where contamination from the land surface leaches vertically downwards to the water table within the uppermost aquifer at a particular locality. The groundwater vulnerability assessment is, therefore, influenced by several factors that relate to the pathway element of a typical hazard – pathway – receptor risk assessment. In this case, the pathway is characterised by the geological and hydrogeological characteristics of the soil layer, the underlying superficial deposits and bedrock. The pathway between the ground surface and the water table can affect the degree of attenuation of contaminants. Factors that can influence attenuation include: • The permeability and clay content of the superficial deposits. • The thickness of the superficial deposits. • The mode of groundwater flow in bedrock aquifers (fracture or intergranular flow). • The permeability and clay content of intergranular bedrock aquifers. • The depth to the water table in both superficial and intergranular bedrock aquifers. It is the above factors that determine the vulnerability classification. Vulnerability has been divided into five categories, with Class 1 areas having the lowest risk of groundwater pollution and Class 5 the highest. One of the main principles adopted for the current methodology was how attenuation could be affected by the nature of groundwater flow. It is assumed that only in geological deposits where there is significant or total unsaturated intergranular groundwater flow that attenuation can occur. Where contaminants move to the water table through unsaturated fractured bedrock, the methodology assumes that no attenuation of pollutants can take place. It is the recognition of the hydrogeological characteristics within the pathway instead of the ‘importance’ of a particular aquifer that results in the final vulnerability map of Northern Ireland showing significant areas of Classes 4 and 5 within upland and certain other regions. This reflects the common occurrence of igneous and metamorphic rocks within these areas where the potential for attenuation of contaminants in the pathway is very limited

Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis and Necrotizing Scleritis Initiated by Trauma in the Setting of Mixed Cryoglobulinemia

Purpose: To report a case of peripheral ulcerative keratitis and necrotizing scleritis precipitated by trauma in a patient with mixed cryoglobulinemia due to hepatitis C viral infection. Methods: Case report and literature review. Results: A 62-year-old man with a history of mixed cryoglobulinemia developed an episode of necrotizing scleritis and peripheral ulcerative keratitis one month after repair of a traumatic scleral defect with patch grafting. This episode resolved following treatment with high-dose corticosteroids and the patient underwent successful repeat patch grafting along with a free conjunctival autograft. This is the second reported case of necrotizing scleritis and peripheral ulcerative keratitis associated with mixed cryoglobulinemia. Conclusion: Ophthalmologists should be aware of the association between mixed cryoglobulinemia and necrotizing scleritis/peripheral ulcerative keratitis. Patients with this condition experiencing ocular trauma or undergoing ocular surgery should be monitored closely

Predictive Validity of CU Traits on Conduct Disorder-Related Antisocial Behaviors in Canadian Adolescents: Advancing Understandings Relevant to the DSM-5 Specifier With Limited Prosocial Emotions

The cross-sectional study employed logistic regression models to test hypotheses and explore the relationships between callous unemotional (CU) traits and antisocial behavioral outcomes among a sample of Canadian youth. Four main predictive associations were hypothesized, suggesting significant direct links between CU traits and antisocial behaviors. Specifically, it was hypothesized that four CU traits, namely, thinking school is unimportant, having a lack of sympathy, failure to comfort distressed children, and engaging in cruel behaviors would serve as strong predictors of antisocial behaviors. Furthermore, the study sought to assess the predictive validity of additional participant characteristics, including age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and exposure to parental physical or verbal abuse. In addition to examining predictive associations and youth’s characteristics, the study also explored the moderation of CU trait-antisocial behavior relationships by gender. Interactions between each of the four CU traits and gender were systematically explored to determine if gender moderated any of the CU-antisocial behavior predictive associations. This study analyzed a nationally representative sample of 5,539 Canadian youth, nearly evenly distributed across three age brackets (10 to 11, 12 to 13, 14 years) and closely balanced on gender (49.9% girls, 50.1% boys). SES of the sample ranged from 14.3% in the lowest to 12.1% in the highest SES brackets. This study identified significant associations between CU traits and a multitude of antisocial behaviors among Canadian youth. Among these predictive associations there was a strong, statistically significant relationship between cruelty toward others and acts of aggression such as kicking, biting or hurting others (OR = 13.24 [95% CI 8.04, 21.80]). In terms of property destruction, this study again found that multiple CU traits led to increased likelihood of damaging of property (OR ranging from 2.08 [95% CI 1.62, 2.67] to 3.53 [95% CI 2.15, 5.76]), while violations of prosocial norms, such as school disobedience, were also predicted by a number of CU traits. Examining secondary hypothesized covariates further found that that age, gender, SES and parental behavior significantly influence antisocial behaviors. Among the findings, older children (OR = 0.54 [95% CI 0.46, 0.63]), were less likely to engage in fights, contrasted with boys (OR = 2.06 [95% CI 1.82, 2.34]), and those from low SES households (OR = 1.69 [95% CI 1.32, 2.16]). Further, those experiencing parental physical or verbal abuse (ORs ranging from 1.55 to 7.17), showed increased risk across antisocial behaviors, including property offenses and school disobedience. The propensity to lie or cheat increased with age (ORs from 1.32 to 1.50), and escalated with parental abuse (ORs from 1.55 to 3.32). Finally, this study investigated the interplay between gender and key predictors in antisocial behavior. A significant interaction was found between gender and the CU trait regarding the importance of school and disobedience in school. Boys who saw school as somewhat important (OR = 2.16 [95% CI 1.75, 2.55]) or unimportant (OR = 3.07 [95% CI 1.87, 5.04]) were more likely to be disobedient, while for girls, the risk was higher (OR = 2.95 [95% CI 2.32, 3.76]; OR = 7.74 [95% CI 3.65, 16.40]). This study contributes valuable practically and statistically significant findings to the existing Canadian literature on CU traits and antisocial outcomes by providing a nationally representative examination of their predictive validity among Canadian youth. Finally, the findings have implications for Canadian social workers by providing increased understandings of early identification of, and subsequent interventions for, antisocial behaviors related to conduct disorder. Understanding the role of CU traits and other participant characteristics can inform tailored approaches to support at-risk youth and promote positive developmental trajectories

The clash of business models in emerging economies: The case of wind energy industry in Africa

With the rise of emerging economy EE as main engine of global growth, the intensified competition in the wind energy industry and internationalization to EE, enterprises need to rethink and innovate their business models in order to succeed. The overall purpose of this article is to increase our understanding of the drivers of business model innovation (BMI) in EE, particularly in the wind energy industry. Qualitative, multi-case design is applied, where three cases within wind energy industry in Africa are studied - Siemens (Germany), Suzlon (India) and Goldwind (China). The results show that there is a difference between 'Developed-country Multinational Enterprises' (DMNEs), such as Siemens, and 'Emerging-county Multinational Enterprises', such as Suzlon and Goldwind, in the way they approach BMI in EE. To gain a competitive advantage in EE requires capabilities to deal with the specific EE related drivers of change: 1) fast growth and high demand combined with high uncertainty; 2) lower level of market-oriented socioeconomic development; 3) stronger governmental influence on the market; and 4) the need for simple, cheap and easy to maintain technologies. Therefore, it is important that managers position their enterprises in the EE first as local players and only then as multinationals. Our study indicates that future research should focus on the main elements and the drivers of change that would shape BMI by adding new variables, specifically related to EE

A model for predicting dissolved organic carbon distribution in a reservoir water using fluorescence spectroscopy

A number of water treatment works (WTW) in the north of England (UK) have experienced problems in reducing the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) present in the water to a sufficiently low level. The problems are experienced in autumn/ winter when the colour increases and the coagulant dose at the WTW needs to be increased in order to achieve sufficient colour removal. However, the DOC content of the water varies little throughout the year. To investigate this further, the water was fractionated using resin adsorption techniques into its hydrophobic (fulvic and humic acid fractions) and hydrophilic (acid and non-acid fractions) components. The fractionation process yields useful information on the changing concentration of each fraction but is time consuming and labour intensive. Here, a method of rapidly determining fraction concentration was developed using fluorescence spectroscopy. The model created used synchronous spectra of fractionated material compared against bulk water spectra and predicted the fraction concentrations to within 10% for a specific water. The model was unable to predict fraction concentrations for waters from a different watershed

Environmental and genetic factors associated with Solanesol accumulation in potato leaves

Solanesol is a high value 45-carbon, unsaturated, all-trans-nonaprenol isoprenoid. Recently solanesol has received particular attention because of its utility, both in its own right and as a precursor in the production of numerous compounds used in the treatment of disease states. Solanesol is found mainly in solanaceous crops such as potato, tomato, tobacco and pepper where it accumulates in the foliage. There is considerable potential to explore the extraction of solanesol from these sources as a valuable co-product. In this study we have characterised the genetic variation in leaf solanesol content in a biparental, segregating diploid potato population. We demonstrate that potato leaf solanesol content is genetically controlled and identify several quantitative trait loci associated with leaf solanesol content. Transient over-expression of genes from the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) and mevalonic acid (MVA) pathways, either singly or in combination, resulted in enhanced accumulation of solanesol in leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana, providing insights for genetically engineering the pathway. We also demonstrate that in potato, leaf solanesol content is enhanced by up to six-fold on exposure to moderately elevated temperature and show corresponding changes in expression patterns of MEP and MVA genes. Our combined approaches offer new insights into solanesol accumulation and strategies for developing a bio-refinery approach to potato production