Textbook Evaluation Toolkit

In Spring 2018, the LaGuardia Community College Library department was awarded a New York State grant to train students to evaluate textbooks. The goal of the project is to give faculty tools to help students evaluate the books being used in their classes. It is not expected that all of these tools will be used in a single class, but rather that faculty will use some of these tools to determine how textbooks are working, and not working, for their students. The seminar introduced students to the economics and politics of the textbook industry and gave them tools to evaluate textbooks. This repository contains the materials used during the seminar

Teaching Students to Critically Evaluate Textbooks

This chapter is a case study describing how library faculty combined service learning and information literacy to help students evaluate textbooks, comparing commercial ones to Open Education Resources. The underlying idea was to give students not only a scholarly grounding that would help them as they move through their academic careers but also a practical vocational orientation to help them succeed in the workforce and, hopefully, become future contributors to the free culture movement

A flexible mixed model for age-dependent performance: application to golf

We present a new mixed linear model for the relationship between age and performance. The model allows for random effects at the nodes of a barycentric interpolation, such that performance evolves with age in a non-prescriptive way. We use the model to investigate the effects of age on performance in golf and find that performance peaks in the 30s and then declines after that. We disaggregate performance into its constituent components and find that driving, which tends to require power and speed, deteriorates consistently from the early 20s, whilst putting, which requires touch and finesse, remains strong until the late 40s. Our model can be used in other settings, and requires only that measures of performance exist

Inequalities in COVID19 mortality related to ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation - pre-print paper

Background: Initial reports suggest that ethnic minorities may be experiencing more severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) outcomes. We therefore assessed the association between ethnic composition, income deprivation and COVID19 mortality rates in England. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional ecological analysis across England's upper-tier local authorities. We assessed the association between the proportion of the population from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, income deprivation and COVID19 mortality rates using multivariable negative binomial regression, adjusting for population density, proportion of the population aged 50-79 and 80+ years, and the duration of the epidemic in each area. Findings: Local authorities with a greater proportion of residents from ethnic minority backgrounds had statistically significantly higher COVID19 mortality rates, as did local authorities with a greater proportion of residents experiencing deprivation relating to low income. After adjusting for income deprivation and other covariates, each percentage point increase in the proportion of the population from BAME backgrounds was associated with a 1% increase in the COVID19 mortality rate [IRR=1.01, 95%CI 1.01-1.02]. Each percentage point increase in the proportion of the population experiencing income deprivation was associated with a 2% increase in the COVID19 mortality rate [IRR=1.02, 95%CI 1.01-1.04]. Interpretation: This study provides evidence that both income deprivation and ethnicity are associated with greater COVID19 mortality. To reduce these inequalities, Government needs to target effective control and recovery measures at these disadvantaged communities, proportionate to their greater needs and vulnerabilities, during and following the pandemic

Plus-Minus Player Ratings for Soccer

The paper presents plus–minus ratings for use in association football (soccer). We first describe the general plus–minus methodology as used in basketball and ice-hockey and then adapt it for use in soccer. The usual goal-differential plus–minus is considered before two new variations are proposed. For the first variation, we present a methodology to calculate an expected goals plus–minus rating. The second variation makes use of in-play probabilities of match outcome to evaluate an expected points plus–minus rating. We use the ratings to examine who are the best players in European football, and demonstrate how the players’ ratings evolve over time. Finally, we shed light on the debate regarding which is the strongest league. The model suggests the English Premier League is the strongest, with the German Bundesliga a close runner-up

UNSCRIPTED DRAMA: SOCCER AUDIENCE RESPONSE TO SUSPENSE, SURPRISE AND SHOCK

By modeling minute‐by‐minute television audience figures from English Premier League soccer matches, with close to 50,000 minute‐observations, we show that demand is partly driven by suspense and surprise. We also identify an additional relevant factor of appeal to audiences, namely shock, which refers to the difference between pre‐match and current game outcome probabilities. Suspense, surprise, and shock remain significant in the presence of a traditional measure of outcome uncertainty. (JEL C23, D12, L82, L83, Z20

Homozygosity for a missense mutation in the 67 kDa isoform of glutamate decarboxylase in a family with autosomal recessive spastic cerebral palsy: parallels with Stiff-Person Syndrome and other movement disorders

Background Cerebral palsy (CP) is an heterogeneous group of neurological disorders of movement and/or posture, with an estimated incidence of 1 in 1000 live births. Non-progressive forms of symmetrical, spastic CP have been identified, which show a Mendelian autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. We recently described the mapping of a recessive spastic CP locus to a 5 cM chromosomal region located at 2q24-31.1, in rare consanguineous families. Methods Here we present data that refine this locus to a 0.5 cM region, flanked by the microsatellite markers D2S2345 and D2S326. The minimal region contains the candidate gene GAD1, which encodes a glutamate decarboxylase isoform (GAD67), involved in conversion of the amino acid and excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate to the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Results A novel amino acid mis-sense mutation in GAD67 was detected, which segregated with CP in affected individuals. Conclusions This result is interesting because auto-antibodies to GAD67 and the more widely studied GAD65 homologue encoded by the GAD2 gene, are described in patients with Stiff-Person Syndrome (SPS), epilepsy, cerebellar ataxia and Batten disease. Further investigation seems merited of the possibility that variation in the GAD1 sequence, potentially affecting glutamate/GABA ratios, may underlie this form of spastic CP, given the presence of anti-GAD antibodies in SPS and the recognised excitotoxicity of glutamate in various contexts