111 research outputs found

    Improving the CALA\u27s Social Media Experience: The First CALA Social Media Survey

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    The Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) currently uses three social media channels, CALA Facebook, WeChat, and YouTube. In order to improve their presence and better serve the CALA members, CALA\u27s first social media survey was conducted at the end of 2016 to seek feedback from its members and friends. This poster will present the background information for the survey, its methodology, findings, recommendations and follow-up. 18 questions were compiled, added to LimeSurvey and distributed to the CALA members via its Listserv. These questions attempted to address the users\u27 social media usage, participation level, time spent on the CALA\u27s social media channels, and their perception and experience of these channels, including their understanding of the main functions of these channels, whether they felt a sense of community in these channels, and how likely they are to share information. In addition, they were also asked to provide feedback about possible future directions of the CALA’s social media in regards to the possibility of creating additional channels, the desirable content categories, and their preferred language. The responses were analyzed and illustrated using Excel. A list of recommendations were made, including experimenting with ways to get members more involved in the social networking arena by creating a private Facebook group, WeChat public account, or LinkedIn group. The ultimate goal is to encourage members to participate and engage with each other on the CALA’s social media channels. The survey was coordinated by the CALA Social Media Group and follow-up efforts will be addressed. Session photos are available at the CALA\u27s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CALA-Chinese-American-Librarians-Association-281336511932864

    Plurality in Naxi and its typological implications

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    Plurality in Naxi can be explicitly expressed by suffixation or tone change on common nouns denoting human beings. This paper complements the published literature in providing a detailed description of its morpho-syntax and semantics of plurality. It shows that Naxi belongs to the typologically rare type of language in which the coding of plurality and definiteness is in one morpheme, the other three languages known to date to have this property are Chinese, Khmer and Maori. Evidence for the definiteness property of explicit plurality comes from it being excluded in syntactic environments in which definiteness noun phrases are ruled out. It is argued that the empirical basis of Greenberg’s (1974) generalization regarding the relation between numeral classifiers and compulsory expression of nominal plurality is subject to the interpretation of explicit expression of plurality. If it is taken to embody in a morpheme (or a set of morphemes) specifically for expressing plurality, then Naxi is consistent with Greenberg’s claim that languages with numeral classifiers do not have compulsory expression of plurality on nouns.Australian National Universit

    Urban green space and mental well-being of Aotearoa New Zealand adolescents : A path analysis

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    Background Growing evidence shows the positive influence of neighbourhood green space on mental well-being among adults through multiple health behaviours, but similar studies are lacking for adolescents. Methods Data were drawn from the 2019 wave of the Youth2000 survey series in Aotearoa, New Zealand with secondary school students (aged 10-19 years) from the city of Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland. Emotional well-being was measured with the World Health Organization-5 Well-being Index, and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale-short form. Neighbourhood green space was assessed using three different measures: percentage of green space, Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the distance to nearest green space from place of residence. Exposure areas of these measures were calculated using Euclidean buffers of 100m, 300m, 800m and 1600m around participants’ meshblock residential addresses. Three mediating (physical activity, social cohesion, sleep) and ten control variables (in adjusted models) were included in path analysis to test the direct and indirect relationships between green space and adolescent mental well-being. Results In unadjusted models, percentage of green space had a negative relationship with emotional well-being, and inconsistent effects of NDVI were detected in different buffers. Minor indirect effects of physical activity and sleep were also found. Depressive symptoms and emotional well-being were more strongly related to other individual and neighbourhood factors (e.g., neighbourhood deprivation). After adjusting for control variables, no significant associations of green space with adolescent depressive symptoms and emotional well-being were identified. Conclusions Urban neighbourhood green space does not appear to be a dominant factor contributing to adolescent mental well-being through physical activity, social cohesion and sleep. Appropriate individual and environmental control variables are needed to take into consideration in future studies that explore the green space-mental well-being relationships in adolescents

    Visualising Combined Time Use Patterns of Children's Activities and Their Association with Weight Status and Neighbourhood Context.

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    Compositional data techniques are an emerging method in physical activity research. These techniques account for the complexities of, and interrelationships between, behaviours that occur throughout a day (e.g., physical activity, sitting, and sleep). The field of health geography research is also developing rapidly. Novel spatial techniques and data visualisation approaches are increasingly being recognised for their utility in understanding health from a socio-ecological perspective. Linking compositional data approaches with geospatial datasets can yield insights into the role of environments in promoting or hindering the health implications of the daily time-use composition of behaviours. The 7-day behaviour data used in this study were derived from accelerometer data for 882 Auckland school children and linked to weight status and neighbourhood deprivation. We developed novel geospatial visualisation techniques to explore activity composition over a day and generated new insights into links between environments and child health behaviours and outcomes. Visualisation strategies that integrate compositional activities, time of day, weight status, and neighbourhood deprivation information were devised. They include a ringmap overview, small-multiple ringmaps, and individual and aggregated time⁻activity diagrams. Simultaneous visualisation of geospatial and compositional behaviour data can be useful for triangulating data from diverse disciplines, making sense of complex issues, and for effective knowledge translation

    EXPECTED ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE LEARNING: PERCEPTIONS FROM COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO HAVE NOT TAKEN ONLINE COURSES

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    ABSTRACT Online courses and programs are continuing to grow in post

    Associations between Children's Physical Activity and Neighborhood Environments Using GIS: A Secondary Analysis from a Systematic Scoping Review.

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    Regular participation in physical activity is essential for children's physical, mental, and cognitive health. Neighborhood environments may be especially important for children who are more likely to spend time in the environment proximal to home. This article provides an update of evidence for associations between children's physical activity behaviors and objectively assessed environmental characteristics derived using geographical information system (GIS)-based approaches. A systematic scoping review yielded 36 relevant articles of varying study quality. Most studies were conducted in the USA. Findings highlight the need for neighborhoods that are well connected, have higher population densities, and have a variety of destinations in the proximal neighborhood to support children's physical activity behaviors. A shorter distance to school and safe traffic environments were significant factors in supporting children's active travel behaviors. Areas for improvement in the field include the consideration of neighborhood self-selection bias, including more diverse population groups, ground-truthing GIS databases, utilising data-driven approaches to derive environmental indices, and improving the temporal alignment of GIS datasets with behavioral outcomes

    Children's Transport Built Environments: A Mixed Methods Study of Associations between Perceived and Objective Measures and Relationships with Parent Licence for Independent Mobility in Auckland, New Zealand.

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    Children's independent mobility is declining internationally. Parents are the gatekeepers of children's independent mobility. This mixed methods study investigates whether parent perceptions of the neighbourhood environment align with objective measures of the neighbourhood built environment, and how perceived and objective measures relate to parental licence for children's independent mobility. Parents participating in the Neighbourhood for Active Kids study (n = 940) answered an open-ended question about what would make their neighbourhoods better for their child's independent mobility, and reported household and child demographics. Objective measures of the neighbourhood built environment were generated using geographic information systems. Content analysis was used to classify and group parent-reported changes required to improve their neigbourhood. Parent-reported needs were then compared with objective neighbourhood built environment measures. Linear mixed modelling examined associations between parental licence for independent mobility and (1) parent neighbourhood perceptions; and (2) objectively assessed neighbourhood built environment features. Parents identified the need for safer traffic environments. No significant differences in parent reported needs were found by objectively assessed characteristics. Differences in odds of reporting needs were observed for a range of socio-demographic characteristics. Parental licence for independent mobility was only associated with a need for safer places to cycle (positive) and objectively assessed cycling infrastructure (negative) in adjusted models. Overall, the study findings indicate the importance of safer traffic environments for children's independent mobility

    Ultracontinuous single haplotype genome assemblies for the domestic cat (Felis catus) and Asian leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

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    In addition to including one of the most popular companion animals, species from the cat family Felidae serve as a powerful system for genetic analysis of inherited and infectious disease, as well as for the study of phenotypic evolution and speciation. Previous diploid-based genome assemblies for the domestic cat have served as the primary reference for genomic studies within the cat family. However, these versions suffered from poor resolution of complex and highly repetitive regions, with substantial amounts of unplaced sequence that is polymorphic or copy number variable. We sequenced the genome of a female F1 Bengal hybrid cat, the offspring of a domestic cat (Felis catus) x Asian leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) cross, with PacBio long sequence reads and used Illumina sequence reads from the parents to phase \u3e99.9% of the reads into the two species’ haplotypes. De novo assembly of the phased reads produced highly continuous haploid genome assemblies for the domestic cat and Asian leopard cat, with contig N50 statistics exceeding 83 Mb for both genomes. Whole genome alignments reveal the Felis and Prionailurus genomes are colinear, and the cytogenetic differences between the homologous F1 and E4 chromosomes represent a case of centromere repositioning in the absence of a chromosomal inversion. Both assemblies offer significant improvements over the previous domestic cat reference genome, with a 100% increase in contiguity and the capture of the vast majority of chromosome arms in one or two large contigs. We further demonstrated that comparably accurate F1 haplotype phasing can be achieved with members of the same species when one or both parents of the trio are not available. These novel genome resources will empower studies of feline precision medicine, adaptation and speciation
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