The Impact of Web-Scale Discovery on the Use of Electronic Resources

In 2015, the University of California, Berkeley, launched EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), a web-scale discovery tool, with a goal of improving visibility and usage of collections. This study applies linear regression analysis to usage data for ebooks, ejournals, and abstracts and indexing (A&I) databases before and after implementation of EDS in order to identify correlations between the discovery layer and usage of library electronic resources across platforms. Our findings diverge from conclusions drawn in the previous literature that indicate that resource use generally increases after a discovery tool is implemented. We examine data from a longer period of time than the previous literature had, looking for statistically significant changes in resource use. The discovery layer at UC Berkeley did not lead to equal increases across platforms, but rather to a complex array of increases and decreases in use according to a variety of factors.

Law and Literacy in Non-Consumptive Text Mining: Guiding Researchers Through the Landscape of Computational Text Analysis

395 hlm, 21 c

Beyond the castle:public space co-design, a case study and guidelines for designers

In this paper we describe a high profile project to reimagine a large green space in the heart of the city of Lancaster in the UK. This co-design project involved professional designers but also 2500 people with 700 of these making an active co-design contribution. This project forms the basis of a discussion of how we used a series of events to help participants reach their full creative co-design potential moving from doing to creating levels of creativity. From this case study we go on to develop a framework of recommendations to help designers reflect on their normal practice and how they need to operate within a co-design project. These recommendations seek to maximise the benefits of this approach and produce good design outcomes. This framework has been evaluated in a series of international workshops in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands

The Effects of Malpractice Tort Reform on Defensive Medicine

Medical malpractice crises occur across states to differing degrees, thus the proposed changes in state tort reforms differ accordingly. The primary overt goals of tort reform aim to address: rising medical malpractice insurance rates, increased frequency and severity of awards, and the increased incidence of doctors shuttering offices or fleeing states due to untoward malpractice environments. A secondary goal of tort reform is to reduce health care costs attributed to malpractice costs. Clearly, as malpractice tort reforms are debated in state capitols and reforms take place, the effects of the reforms on the goals above can be examined. However, there is an often ignored implication of reform requiring attention. How do reforms affect doctors\u27 decisions and behaviors in treating patients? Specifically, do doctors change their behavior as the malpractice environment changes, and if so, do these changes affect health care costs? Given the variety of state tort reforms occurring over the last several years, we can examine how each one affects health care costs attributed to changes in physician behavior. Since the early 1970\u27s economists, lawyers, and many within the medical community have debated the existence of defensive medicine. Using the Office of Technology Assessment definitions (OTA, 1994), positive defensive medicine occurs when physicians order additional tests or procedures primarily to avoid malpractice liability. Negative defensive medicine occurs when doctors avoid certain patients or treatments chiefly out of concern for malpractice liability. The thrust of this paper deals with positive defensive medicine. Given different malpractice environments across states, we witness variations in positive defensive medicine practices leading to differences in health care expenditures. The plan of the paper is as follows. First, we note the existence of defensive medicine. Next, we discuss malpractice tort reform across states. Lastly, we show which reforms have demonstrable impacts on defensive medicine and therefore on health care expenditures

The Effects of Malpractice Tort Reform on Defensive Medicine

Positive defensive medicine occurs when physicians order additional tests or procedures primarily to avoid malpractice liability. This paper shows the degree of defensive medicine occurring across states is related to the malpractice environment in the states. As the environment changes due to malpractice tort reform, defensive medicine practices also change. This paper shows the existence of positive defensive medicine and how it adds to total health care expenditures for head trauma victims in 23 states in 2000. Moreover, given different malpractice environments across states, we witness variations in defensive medicine practices leading to differences in health care expenditures

Mark Hennessy Correspondence

Entries include letters and a biography

A small project and a big venture: sharing practices between two different scale OER developments

Sharing knowledge between OER initiatives and the reality of what actually happens in practice can lead to the fostering of openness amongst yet further initiatives and consequently enable our communities of practice to grow (Lane and Darby, 2012). Such knowledge sharing and learning of valuable lessons involves OER projects both large and small; projects ranging from those involving a few individuals, to those based in departments, and covering discipline areas as well as those that have arisen as a result of large institutional OER investments. This paper sets out to offer insight into, and contrast, the practices and knowledge sharing of two very different UK based OER projects: the internationally recognised OpenLearn project (McAndrew et al, 2009), established by the Open University in 2006 and the smaller scale Open Resource Bank for Interactive Teaching (ORBIT) project established at the University of Cambridge in 2012 (Hassler at al, 2012). In turn it highlights the other initiatives that informed or were informed by these two projects. On the one hand we provide a direct comparison between OpenLearn, established at a University as a big institutional approach and aiming to reach a broad academic audience, with ORBIT, developed as a small specialised project within a Faculty of Education and focused on a more targeted audience: that of primary and secondary school teachers of mathematics and science, and teacher educators in those areas. On the other hand we set out the expectations of the principal stakeholders - learners and educators – as well as mapping out the wide range of other projects and initiatives that they shared knowledge with and vice versa. If we are to understand and facilitate the spread of open practice, it is important to examine the knowledge sharing practices and approaches of both smallscale and large-scale ventures as well as the role of knowledge brokers

Chinese Singaporean attitudes towards poverty and inequality: A comparative analysis

10.1111/j.1468-2397.2011.00785.xInternational Journal of Social Welfare212149-15