The Competitive Advantage of Librarians: Core Competencies for Document Delivery

The relationship of trust that patrons have for their librarians combined with various affects of culture within libraries contribute to a competitive advantage that librarians have as service providers

Performance Measures of Shelving Accuracy

Describes a process instituted at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook to measure the accuracy of its shelving operation. Performance measurement as an emerging trend in librarianship; An enhancement that should be made in the methodology of Stony Brook\u27s performance measurement program; Survey of SUNY library; Purpose of the survey

Libraries in the Time of MOOCs

MOOCs give librarians new opportunities to help shape the conversation about changes in higher education and to guide administrators, faculty, and students through these changes. To assume this role, librarians must understand the MOOCs landscape. Numerous stakeholders will have an interest in the massive intellectual property that ultimately resides in libraries\u27 owned and licensed digital repositories. Studying and adopting technologies to manage and monitor MOOC usage of library resources will be essential to controlling access and tightening Internet safeguards

Collaboration for Hard Times

People have always known that they can often achieve more working with others than they can alone. Today in libraries, collaboration is a vital feature of organizational life, but finding the right partner for a supportive relationship is still no simple matter. There are risks and costs, along with the tension between self-interest and resource sharing. Once the right partner is found, the team must figure out how to make the relationship work

The New York City DOE/CUNY Library Collaborative: Bridging the Gap Between High School and College

This white paper presents the progression and the processes of the New York Collaborative Curriculum Revision Project (CCRP), a collaborative of high school teachers, college faculty, and librarians, formed to build upon the new Common Core State Standards designed to help students develop and become more adept at reading critically, conducting rigorous research, and being better prepared for postsecondary success. This paper presents CCRP as a model to be replicated, modified and strengthened. The DOE/CUNY Library Collaborative is central to the development of the model and shares its successes and hard-learned lessons in its steps to recruit, engage, and facilitate collaborative methods for improving educational outcomes

A decision analytic model to investigate the cost-effectiveness of poisoning prevention practices in households with young children

Background: Systematic reviews and a network meta-analysis show home safety education with or without the provision of safety equipment is effective in promoting poison prevention behaviours in households with children. This paper compares the cost-effectiveness of home safety interventions to promote poison prevention practices. Methods: A probabilistic decision-analytic model simulates healthcare costs and benefits for a hypothetical cohort of under 5 year olds. The model compares the cost-effectiveness of home safety education, home safety inspections, provision of free or low cost safety equipment and fitting of equipment. Analyses are conducted from a UK National Health Service and Personal Social Services perspective and expressed in 2012 prices. Results: Education without safety inspection, provision or fitting of equipment was the most cost-effective strategy for promoting safe storage of medicines with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £2888 (95 % credible interval (CrI) £1990–£5774) per poison case avoided or £41,330 (95%CrI £20,007–£91,534) per QALY gained compared with usual care. Compared to usual care, home safety interventions were not cost-effective in promoting safe storage of other household products. Conclusion: Education offers better value for money than more intensive but expensive strategies for preventing medicinal poisonings, but is only likely to be cost-effective at £30,000 per QALY gained for families in disadvantaged areas and for those with more than one child. There was considerable uncertainty in cost-effectiveness estimates due to paucity of evidence on model parameters. Policy makers should consider both costs and effectiveness of competing interventions to ensure efficient use of resources

Cost-effectiveness of interventions for increasing the possession of functioning smoke alarms in households with pre-school children: a modelling study

Background The UK has one of the highest rates for deaths from fire and flames in children aged 0-14 years compared to other high income countries. Evidence shows that smoke alarms can reduce the risk of fire-related injury but little exists on their cost-effectiveness. We aimed to compare the cost effectiveness of different interventions for the uptake of 'functioning' smoke alarms and consequently for the prevention of fire-related injuries in children in the UK. Methods We carried out a decision model-based probabilistic cost-effectiveness analysis. We used a hypothetical population of newborns and evaluated the impact of living in a household with or without a functioning smoke alarm during the first 5 years of their life on overall lifetime costs and quality of life from a public health perspective. We compared seven interventions, ranging from usual care to more complex interventions comprising of education, free/low cost equipment giveaway, equipment fitting and/or home safety inspection. Results Education and free/low cost equipment was the most cost-effective intervention with an estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of [pound sign]34,200 per QALY gained compared to usual care. This was reduced to approximately £4,500 per QALY gained when 1.8 children under the age of 5 were assumed per household. Conclusions Assessing cost-effectiveness, as well as effectiveness, is important in a public sector system operating under a fixed budget restraint. As highlighted in this study, the more effective interventions (in this case the more complex interventions) may not necessarily be the ones considered the most cost-effective

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

A multidisciplinary approach to identify priority areas for the monitoring of a vulnerable family of fishes in Spanish Marine National Parks

Background Syngnathid fishes (Actinopterygii, Syngnathidae) are flagship species strongly associated with seaweed and seagrass habitats. Seahorses and pipefishes are highly vulnerable to anthropogenic and environmental disturbances, but most species are currently Data Deficient according to the IUCN (2019), requiring more biological and ecological research. This study provides the first insights into syngnathid populations in the two marine Spanish National Parks (PNIA—Atlantic- and PNAC—Mediterranean). Fishes were collected periodically, marked, morphologically identified, analysed for size, weight, sex and sexual maturity, and sampled for stable isotope and genetic identification. Due the scarcity of previous information, habitat characteristics were also assessed in PNIA. Results Syngnathid diversity and abundance were low, with two species identified in PNIA (Hippocampus guttulatus and Syngnathus acus) and four in PNAC (S. abaster, S. acus, S. typhle and Nerophis maculatus). Syngnathids from both National Parks (NP) differed isotopically, with much lower δ15N in PNAC than in PNIA. The dominant species were S. abaster in PNAC and S. acus in PNIA. Syngnathids preferred less exposed sites in macroalgal assemblages in PNIA and Cymodocea meadows in PNAC. The occurrence of very large specimens, the absence of small-medium sizes and the isotopic comparison with a nearby population suggest that the population of Syngnathus acus (the dominant syngnathid in PNIA) mainly comprised breeders that migrate seasonally. Mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence variants were detected for H. guttulatus, S. acus, and S. abaster, and a novel 16S rDNA haplotype was obtained in N. maculatus. Our data suggest the presence of a cryptic divergent mitochondrial lineage of Syngnathus abaster species in PNAC. Conclusions This is the first multidisciplinary approach to the study of syngnathids in Spanish marine NPs. Habitat preferences and population characteristics in both NPs differed. Further studies are needed to assess the occurrence of a species complex for S. abaster, discarding potential misidentifications of genus Syngnathus in PNAC, and evaluate migratory events in PNIA. We propose several preferential sites in both NPs for future monitoring of syngnathid populations and some recommendations for their conservation.Postprin