Apps for local government and mobile web usage

Introduction Australia is slowly shifting to the concept of open and transparent governance that relies on a two-way communication system between the Government and citizens. One of the ways in which councils are engaging more with citizens is through the use of smart phone applications, or “apps” as they are more commonly known. App is a term used to describe Internet based applications that run on smart phones and other mobiles devices. Apps help users by connecting them to internet services more commonly accessed on desktop or notebook computers, and can make a website mobile phone viewer friendly. Over one billion of the world’s four billion plus mobiles phones are now smart phones, and at least three billion of all mobile phones are SMS enabled. By 2014, mobile internet-usage will overtake desktop internet usage and already in 2011 and currently more than 50% of all “local” searches are done from a mobile device. Councils can benefit from developing mobile apps as they can provide “…social networking platforms, content creation and sharing tools, weblogs and micro blogging tools that allow for a bidirectional information exchange within governmental organizations and government’s interactions with citizens.” This preliminary report is based upon a desktop search of apps (completed in two stages during Feb-June 2012), some extracts from the draft discussion paper From explanation to engagement: Application and use of social media to enhance local government performance (Anne Howard, ACELG-University of Canberra December 2011) and conclusions of the co-authors. Every effort has been made to compile lists of all relevant apps (Apple iPhone and Android platforms). However, this area of mobile web applications is moving very quickly. New apps are being released every day, and this includes many specifically for local government

Faculty use of student evaluation feedback

This study examined faculty formative use of end of semester student rating of instruction (SRI) feedback. Over 600 faculty from three universities responded to a mailed survey. The majority of faculty reported using SRI feedback on a regular basis. Formative use of the SRI feedback was found to relate to faculty perceptions and values. The use of negative practices was reported by a small percentage of respondents. The results provide support to revised version of Geis\u27s (1991) SRI feedback model. Accessed 26,495 times on https://pareonline.net from October 06, 2003 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Faculty Use of Student Evaluation Feedback

This study examined faculty formative use of end of semester student rating of instruction (SRI) feedback. Over 600 faculty from three universities responded to a mailed survey. The majority of faculty reported using SRI feedback on a regular basis. Formative use of the SRI feedback was found to relate to faculty perceptions and values. The use of negative practices was reported by a small percentage of respondents. The results provide support to revised version of Geis\u27s (1991) SRI feedback model

Extending the literature base of a reading program through folk literature

The report of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1987) stresses the need to present quality literature experiences to facilitate children\u27s personal-social development. Literature needs to be presented as whole units in the form written by the author, not revised to facilitate the teaching of fragments through phonics instruction and to fit readability formulas. Since few basal reader series, the basis of much reading instruction today, focus on quality literature, this humanities group suggests that teachers need to take more responsibility in extending the literature base

Brain network activity in monolingual and bilingual older adults

Bilingual older adults typically have better performance on tasks of executive control (EC) than do their monolingual peers, but differences in brain activity due to language experience are not well understood. Based on studies showing a relation between the dynamic range of brain network activity and performance on EC tasks, we hypothesized that life-long bilingual older adults would show increased functional connectivity relative to monolinguals in networks related to EC. We assessed intrinsic functional connectivity and modulation of activity in task vs. fixation periods in two brain networks that are active when EC is engaged, the frontoparietal control network (FPC) and the salience network (SLN). We also examined the default mode network (DMN), which influences behavior through reduced activity during tasks. We found stronger intrinsic functional connectivity in the FPC and DMN in bilinguals than in monolinguals. Although there were no group differences in the modulation of activity across tasks and fixation, bilinguals showed stronger correlations than monolinguals between intrinsic connectivity in the FPC and task-related increases of activity in prefrontal and parietal regions. This bilingual difference in network connectivity suggests that language experience begun in childhood and continued throughout adulthood influences brain networks in ways that may provide benefits in later life

Parents\u27 Goals: An Analysis of Therapist Reasoning

Purpose: Illustrate the use of DDDM to develop parent-identified goals for occupational therapy and to identify underlying sensory integration factors hypothesized to be impacting participation

Factors influencing elderly women's mammography screening decisions: implications for counseling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although guidelines recommend that clinicians consider life expectancy before screening older women for breast cancer, many older women with limited life expectancies are screened. We aimed to identify factors important to mammography screening decisions among women aged 80 and older compared to women aged 65–79.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Telephone surveys of 107 women aged 80+ and 93 women aged 65–79 randomly selected from one academic primary care practice who were able to communicate in English (60% response rate). The survey addressed the following factors in regards to older women's mammography screening decisions: perceived importance of a history of breast disease, family history of breast cancer, doctor's recommendations, habit, reassurance, previous experience, mailed reminder cards, family/friend's recommendations or experience with breast cancer, age, health, and media. The survey also assessed older women's preferred role in decision making around mammography screening.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 200 women, 65.5% were non-Hispanic white and 82.8% were in good to excellent health. Most (81.3%) had undergone mammography in the past 2 years. Regardless of age, older women ranked doctor's recommendations as the most important factor influencing their decision to get screened. Habit and reassurance were the next two highly ranked factors influencing older women to get screened. Among women who did not get screened, women aged 80 and older ranked age and doctor's counseling as the most influential factors and women aged 65–79 ranked a previous negative experience with mammography as the most important factor. There were no significant differences in preferred role in decision-making around mammography screening by age, however, most women in both age groups preferred to make the final decision on their own (46.6% of women aged 80+ and 50.5% of women aged 65–79).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>While a doctor's recommendation is the most important factor influencing elderly women's mammography screening decisions, habit and reassurance also strongly influence decision-making. Interventions aimed at improving clinician counseling about mammography, which include discussions around habit and reassurance, may result in better decision-making.</p

The META tool optimizes metagenomic analyses across sequencing platforms and classifiers

A major challenge in the field of metagenomics is the selection of the correct combination of sequencing platform and downstream metagenomic analysis algorithm, or “classifier”. Here, we present the Metagenomic Evaluation Tool Analyzer (META), which produces simulated data and facilitates platform and algorithm selection for any given metagenomic use case. META-generated in silico read data are modular, scalable, and reflect user-defined community profiles, while the downstream analysis is done using a variety of metagenomic classifiers. Reported results include information on resource utilization, time-to-answer, and performance. Real-world data can also be analyzed using selected classifiers and results benchmarked against simulations. To test the utility of the META software, simulated data was compared to real-world viral and bacterial metagenomic samples run on four different sequencers and analyzed using 12 metagenomic classifiers. Lastly, we introduce “META Score”: a unified, quantitative value which rates an analytic classifier’s ability to both identify and count taxa in a representative sample

Clinical Trials in Head Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major public health problem globally. In the United States the incidence of closed head injuries admitted to hospitals is conservatively estimated to be 200 per 100,000 population, and the incidence of penetrating head injury is estimated to be 12 per 100,000, the highest of any developed country in the world. This yields an approximate number of 500,000 new cases each year, a sizeable proportion of which demonstrate signficant long-term disabilities. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of proven therapies for this disease. For a variety of reasons, clinical trials for this condition have been difficult to design and perform. Despite promising pre-clinical data, most of the trials that have been performed in recent years have failed to demonstrate any significant improvement in outcomes. The reasons for these failures have not always been apparent and any insights gained were not always shared. It was therefore feared that we were running the risk of repeating our mistakes. Recognizing the importance of TBI, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) sponsored a workshop that brought together experts from clinical, research, and pharmaceutical backgrounds. This workshop proved to be very informative and yielded many insights into previous and future TBI trials. This paper is an attempt to summarize the key points made at the workshop. It is hoped that these lessons will enhance the planning and design of future efforts in this important field of research.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63185/1/089771502753754037.pd

Development and validation of a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancers

Next generation sequencing has revolutionised genomic studies of cancer, having facilitated the development of precision oncology treatments based on a tumour’s molecular profile. We aimed to develop a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancer types with particular focus on tumours of the head and neck, plus test for utility in liquid biopsy. The final panel designed through Roche/Nimblegen combined 451 cancer-associated genes (2.01 Mb target region). 136 patient DNA samples were collected for performance and application testing. Panel sensitivity and precision were measured using well-characterised DNA controls (n = 47), and specificity by Sanger sequencing of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Interacting Protein (AIP) gene in 89 patients. Assessment of liquid biopsy application employed a pool of synthetic circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Library preparation and sequencing were conducted on Illumina-based platforms prior to analysis with our accredited (ISO15189) bioinformatics pipeline. We achieved a mean coverage of 395x, with sensitivity and specificity of >99% and precision of >97%. Liquid biopsy revealed detection to 1.25% variant allele frequency. Application to head and neck tumours/cancers resulted in detection of mutations aligned to published databases. In conclusion, we have developed an analytically-validated panel for application to cancers of disparate types with utility in liquid biopsy