Visualizing Social Science Research in an Institutional Repository

Using text mining and visualization techniques to identify the topical coverage of text corpora is increasingly common in a number of disciplines. When these approaches are applied to the titles and abstracts of articles published in an academic journal, it yields insight into the evolution of scholarly content in the journal. Similarly, text mining and visualization can reveal the topical coverage of items archived in an institutional repository. This poster will present initial results from mining the text and visualizing the abstracts of social science research in one university’s institutional repository. Generating a topic map visually demonstrates how research in a repository clusters around specific domains in the social sciences. These topic maps are potentially useful to librarians and researchers seeking to learn more about the topical coverage of items in their repository and determine if the research is reflective of the scholarly output from an institution more broadly

Alien Registration- Polley, Roysden E. (Baldwin, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/32979/thumbnail.jp

Moving from piecemeal to systematic: Reprioritizing how academic libraries approach research information management

Research information management (RIM) workflows at universities are increasingly intersecting with library workflows, particularly regarding data management, funder compliance, and preservation of the institution’s scholarly record. With an ever-changing research landscape influenced by government mandates, increasing commercialization of research infrastructure, and globalization there is a need to evaluate current practices, priorities, and institutional collaborators related to Research Information Management (RIM) workflows that connect with libraries so that open tools and infrastructure remain at the forefront of this work. Though in its early stages of ideation, an effort to examine current RIM systems and services at a public research institution will expand on the current findings of US activities brought forth in reports produced by OCLC and Lyrasis to identify local opportunities for library-supported RIM tools/services that are open and transparent. In this presentation, the authors share their vision to shift from thinking about library-supported RIM services as piecemeal to a more systematic approach that prioritizes open infrastructure

Developing incentives for data stewardship and sharing: Library engagement beyond liaison relationships

Many of the obstacles slowing the adoption of more democratic dissemination of scholarly products are cultural, not technological. While libraries have extended their technological capacity to new methods of dissemination, we have been less proactive in fostering the cultural change necessary for significant adoption. Two particular groups of constituents and communities of practice have been engaged with the library profession, but the personal contact between faculty and librarians at the institutional level is inconsistent and often hinges upon liaison relationships. This poster will describe opportunities for librarians to engage with institutional units and research communities extending beyond institutional boundaries to advance incentives rewarding new forms of dissemination, including data as a valued community resource. Examples of relating changes in dissemination to various community missions will be provided

A Method for Verifying Indicators of Journal Quality

A recent search of the UlrichsWeb Global Serials Directory for active, digital, peer reviewed, scholarly journals shows that world’s academic articles are published in more than 58,500 journals. By one estimate the growth of new journal titles increases by 2.5% ever year (Ware & Mabe, 2015). At the same time, universities are adopting researcher information systems that provide administrators and other campus stakeholders with nearly complete bibliographic data for all articles published by their faculty authors. As campus leaders work to make sense of this data, they may turn to their library for help. Questions may include: Are all of these new or previously unencountered journal titles legitimate? Who are the main publishers of our articles? What are the emerging trends that promotion and tenure committees should consider? The most common way to address these questions involves significant shortcomings--proprietary subscription databases, like Scopus, Web of Science, and Academic Analytics, have limited coverage of the journal literature and, by design, are unlikely to include newer and lesser known journal titles. At the same time many universities publish thousands of articles per year, manually checking each article submitted to a faculty annual review database would prove to be a tedious and lengthy process. To reduce the labor involved in identifying indicators of journal quality, we have developed a method using open source software and open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). In specific, our method reduces the labor in identifying the publishers for a long list of journals and in identifying the access model for these journals (subscription-only or open access). To do this we wrote an R script that uses the SHERPA RoMEO and the DOAJ APIs. Using this method permitted us to quickly identify the journals that needed closer inspection. This method will help others that are working to verify journal quality in large data sets without relying on problematic, journal blacklists

Service Evaluation of 'Living Well with the Impact of Cancer' Courses

The aim of the Penny Brohn Cancer Care Living Well Service Evaluation was to measure the level of benefit that participants were receiving from the Penny Brohn Cancer Care(PBCC)Living Well course and to inform current and future service provision at PBCC. The Penny Brohn Whole Person Approach model(PB-WPA model), which underpins the Living Well course, was designed to support the ‘whole person’ and the course was intended to meet the needs of people with cancer, as identified by the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative (NCSI). The combined qualitative and quantitative results of the Living Well Service Evaluation have demonstrated, very clearly at times, that participants were highly satisfied with the course. The immediate benefit of attending was measurable, in terms of improved health related quality of life (HRQoL) and improved MYCaW (Measure yourself Concerns and Wellbeing) concerns and wellbeing. The evaluation results show that the Living Well course experience enabled the majority of participants to regain control over many aspects of their life, and to start taking responsibility for their health. The following aspects of the course were identified as the most helpful: -Specific units of ‘education and explanation’ about cancer and why healthy lifestyle changes to areas such as diet, exercise and relaxation are beneficial -Advice and education from medical doctors -The opportunity to share experiences with other participants For some, this empowerment led to long-term changes in exercise, food consumption,use of self-help techniques and the ability to communicate more freely and openly with family, friends and medical professionals. These improvements were reflected in the 12 month outcome data, where a sustained improvement in HRQoL and MYCaW concerns was reported by many clients. Such patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are limited in what they can measure, thus qualitative data were also collected to ensure that participants were able to share their experiences (positive or negative) of the Living Well course, and their subsequent experiences of applying the education and techniques learnt on the course. A picture emerged that identified difficulties in sustaining lifestyle changes at around the 3-6 month follow-up. Participants who returned to PBCC within the 12 month follow-up period, however, were more likely to benefit by reporting a greater improvement in HRQoL and MYCaW scores, plus an improved understanding of how to make and maintain healthy lifestyle changes to suit their individual circumstances. In regards to the current NCSI priorities, it is hoped that the data reported in this evaluation go some way to informing the following: -Information and support from the point of diagnosis -Managing the consequences of treatment -Promoting recovery -Sustaining recovery -Supporting people with active and advanced disease -Improving survivorship intelligence Finally, this report demonstrates how a patient-centred model of support can be effectively evaluated to provide relevant, practical and evidence-based information to commissioners. Participant satisfaction: Participants were very satisfied with the course content, course delivery and resources provided which often exceeded their needs and expectations. Participant outcomes: The PB-WPA model successfully encompassed and supported all the types of concerns participants arrived with. The most frequently reported participant concerns were psychological and emotional,about their wellbeing and about their physical health. On average, participants experienced statistically and clinically significant improvements in their MYCaW concern and wellbeing scores, and total HRQoL scores,which remained improved over the 12 month follow-up. The aspects of HRQoL that were most likely to improve after attending the Living Well course were spiritual, emotional and functional wellbeing. Supporters had their own profile of concerns, namely psychological and emotional,supporter specific concerns and practical concerns. Concerns were as severely rated as those from participants with a diagnosis of cancer and also showed statistically significant average improvements throughout the 12 month follow-up. The small group of participants with metastatic disease reported significant improvements in their MYCaW concern scores, in line with the whole evaluation group,and a significantly greater improvement in HRQoL over 12 months compared to participants with primary cancer.Participants who returned for more support from PBCC were in more need of support than those who did not return. They were more likely to have poorer HRQoL at baseline and rate their concerns more severely. Participants who returned to PBCC experienced more improvement in HRQoL that was likely to be clinically significant. These participants also had a greater degree of improvement in their MYCaW concerns, compared to non-returners. Over half of the participants experienced new concerns over the 12 month follow-up period. Concerns were most frequently associated with psychological and emotional and physical issues. Furthermore, at 12 months, participants were still experiencing arange of health issues

Commodity Prices, Interest Rate Spreads and the Exchange Rate: Useful Monetary Policy Indicators or Redundant Information?

We employ actual data from both private and public sector forecasters to conduct a simple, yet stringent test of the potential usefulness of indicator variables for the conduct of monetary policy. That is, we examine whether commodity prices, interest rate spreads and exchange rates can explain incipient errors in the economic forecasts developed by the Fed's staff and the ASA-NBER panel. Our results suggest that these variables do not contain additional information beyond that which policymakers have already incorporated in their forecasts. Hence, monitoring these variables further will not significantly enhance the accuracy of their forecasts, as the information in these variables is largely redundant.Exchange Rates; Fed; Interest Rates; Interest; Monetary Policy; Monetary; Policy

The Responsiveness, Content Validity, and Convergent Validity of the Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW) Patient-Reported Outcome Measure

Objective Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW) is a patient-centred questionnaire that allows cancer patients to identify and quantify the severity of their ‘Concerns’ and Wellbeing, as opposed to using a pre-determined list. MYCaW administration is brief and aids in prioritising treatment approaches. Our goal was to assess the convergent validity and responsiveness of MYCaW scores over time, the generalisability of the existing qualitative coding framework in different complementary and integrative healthcare settings and content validity. Methods Baseline and 6-week follow-up data (n=82) from MYCaW and FACIT-SpEx questionnaires were collected for a service evaluation of the ‘Living Well With The Impact of Cancer’ course at Penny Brohn Cancer Care. MYCaW construct validity was determined using Spearman's Rank Correlation test, and responsiveness indices assessed score changes over time. The existing qualitative coding framework was reviewed using a new dataset (n=158) and coverage of concern categories compared to items of existing outcome measures. Results Good correlation between MYCaW and FACIT-SpEx score changes were achieved (r= -0.57, p≥0.01). MYCaW Profile and Concern scores were highly responsive to change: SRM=1.02 and 1.08; effect size=1.26 and 1.22. MYCaW change scores showed the anticipated gradient of change according to clinically relevant degrees of change. Categories including ‘Spirituality’, ‘weight change’ and ‘practical concerns’ were added to the coding framework to improve generalisability. Conclusions MYCaW scores were highly responsive to change, allowing personalized patient outcomes to be quantified; the qualitative coding framework is generalisable across different oncology settings and has broader coverage of patient-identified concerns compared with existing cancer-related patient-reported outcome measures