Factors Associated with Colorectal Cancer Screening among Younger African American Men: A Systematic Review

Of cancers affecting both men and women, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cancer killer among African Americans in the U.S. Compared to White men, African American men have incidence and mortality rates 25% and 50% higher from CRC. Despite the benefits of early detection and the availability of effective screening, most adults over age 50 have not undergone testing, and disparities in colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) persist. Owing to CRC’s high incidence and younger age at presentation among African American men, CRCS is warranted at age 45 rather than 50. However, the factors influencing young adult (i.e., age \u3c 50) African American men’s intention to screen and/or their CRCS behaviors has not been systematically assessed. To assess whether the factors influencing young adult African American men’s screening intentions and behaviors are changeable through structured health education interventions, we conducted a systematic review, with the two-fold purpose of: (1) synthesizing studies examining African American men\u27s knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors regarding CRCS; and (2) assessing these studies’ methodological quality. Utilizing Garrard’s Matrix Method, a total of 28 manuscripts met our inclusion/exclusion criteria: 20 studies followed a non-experimental research design, 4 comprised a quasi-experimental design, and 4, an experimental design. Studies were published between 2002 and 2012; the majority, between 2007 and 2011. The factors most frequently assessed were behaviors (79%), beliefs (68%), and knowledge (61%) of CRC and CRCS. Six factors associated with CRC and CRCS emerged: previous CRCS, CRC test preference, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, CRC/CRCS knowledge, and physician support/recommendation. Studies were assigned a methodological quality score (MQS – ranging from 0 to 21). The mean MQS of 10.9 indicated these studies were, overall, of medium quality and suffered from specific flaws. Alongside a call for more rigorous research, this review provides important suggestions for practice and culturally relevant interventions

The control network of Mars: April 1991

The modern geodetic control network of Mars was first established based on Mariner 9 images with 1-2 km/pixel resolutions and covered almost the entire Martian surface. The introduction of higher resolution (10-200 meter/pixel) Viking Orbiter images greatly improved the accuracy and density of points in the control network. Analysis of the Viking Lander radio tracking data led to more accurate measurements of Mars' rotation period, spin axis direction, and the lander coordinates relative to the inertial reference frame. The prime meridian on Mars was defined by the Geodesy/Cartography Group of the Mariner 9 Television Team as the crater Airy-0, located about 5 degrees south of the equator. The Viking 1 Lander site was identified on a high resolution Viking frame. The control point measurements form the basis of a least squares solution determined by analytical triangulation after the pixel measurements are corrected for geometric distortions and converted to millimeter coordinates in the camera focal plane. Photogrammetric strips encircling Mars at the equator and at 60 degree north south were used to strengthen the overall net and improve the accuracy of the coordinates of points. In addition, photogrammetric strips along 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees longitude to the Viking 1 Lander site have all significantly strengthened the control network. Most recently, photogrammetric strips were added to the net along 30 degrees north latitude between 0 and 180 degrees, and along 30 degrees between 180 and 360 degrees. The Viking 1 Lander site and Airy-0 are linked through photogrammetric strips occurring along the 0 degree meridian from Airy-0 to 65 degrees north, from that point through the Viking 1 Lander site to the equator, and along the equator to 180 degrees longitude. The Viking 1 lander site is thus a well calibrated area with coordinates of points accurate to approximately 200 meters relative to the J2000 inertial coordinate system. This will be a useful calibration region for upcoming missions. The current status of the control network calculations is presented

Indexing and retrieval in digital libraries : developing taxonomies for a repository of decision technologies

DecisionNet is an online Internet-based repository of decision technologies. It links remote users with these technologies and provides a directory service to enable search and selection of suitable technologies. The ability to retrieve relevant objects through search mechanisms is basic to any repository's success and usability and depends on effective classification of the decision technologies. This thesis develops classification methods to enable indexing of the DecisionNet repository. Existing taxonomies for software and other online repositories are examined. Criteria and principles for a good taxonomy are established and systematically applied to develop DecisionNet taxonomies. A database design is developed to store the taxonomies and to classify the technologies in the repository. User interface issues for navigation of a hierarchical classification system are discussed. A user interface for remote World Wide Web users is developed. This user interface is designed for browsing the taxonomy structure and creating search parameters online. Recommendations for the implementation of a repository search mechanism are given.http://archive.org/details/indexingndretrie1094532199NAU.S. Navy (U.S.N.) authorApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

\u3cb\u3eReviewer Essay:\u3c/b\u3e What Makes a Great Article for IJ-SoTL

Excerpt: First, Happy Fifth Anniversary to the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning! In this anniversary issue, Dr. Altany’s request to have the review board members reflect on what makes a great article for IJ-SoTL gives our readers insight on why this journal is so successful: in short, we have high expectations and standards that have provided authors with a high-quality international forum for meaningful contributions to the educational research community

Evaluating university teaching and learning / Patricia J. Rogers

This paper discusses ways to evaluate university teaching and learning in ways that improve the human capital of teachers and students. While evaluation of teaching and learning often focuses only on gathering and using student feedback with evaluation, there is of course a wide array of literally dozens of evaluation models, approaches and tools. These many alternatives offer the opportunity to match each particular situation with the most appropriate approach, providing there is some way of reviewing options and selecting the most relevant one. This paper sets out some of these different approaches to evaluation, and a guide to selecting which approach to evaluation should be used when, and how these might be useful not only to judge the quality of teaching and learning but to actually improve it

Introduction to Impact Evaluation

This is the first guidance note in a four-part series of notes related to impact evaluation developed by InterAction with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation.This first guidance note, Introduction to Impact Evaluation, provides an overview of impact evaluation, explaining how impact evaluation differs from -- and complements -- other types of evaluation, why impact evaluation should be done, when and by whom. It describes different methods, approaches and designs that can be used for the different aspects of impact evaluation: clarifying values for the evaluation, developing a theory of how the intervention is understood to work, measuring or describing impacts and other important variables, explaining why impacts have occurred, synthesizing results, and reporting and supporting use. The note discusses what is considered good impact evaluation -- evaluation that achieves a balance between the competing imperatives of being useful, rigorous, ethical and practical -- and how to achieve this.The other notes in this series are: Linking Monitoring & Evaluation to Impact Evaluation (http://sectorsource.ca/node/8261); Introduction to Mixed Methods in Impact Evaluation (http://sectorsource.ca/node/8254); and Use of Impact Evaluation Results (http://sectorsource.ca/node/8263). (Available in the Library of Source OSBL and Imagine Canada)Also available in French

In Defense of the Indefensible [9th grade]

Through the study of To Kill a Mockingbird, students will understand the importance of empathy in human relations, the effect of point of view in a story, and the power of words and actions in an argument. As students read, they will discover the theme that “to fully understand others, we must wall in their shoes.” They will explore how perspective and point of view shape a story and the reader’s understanding of that story. Modeling the rhetorical devices Atticus uses in his closing argument, the unit’s culminating activity will be for students to defend themselves in an apology from an unsympathetic character’s point of view. Students will write their apology and perform it in front of the class to assess their understanding of empathy, rhetoric, and point of view and perspective. Students will also write a thematic literary analysis paper to demonstrate their understanding of theme and the relationship between the book and the issues that still face our society today. Students, through the understandings/big ideas, daily activities, and culminating activities, will come to see To Kill a Mockingbird as an authentic American classic in which to learn and grow from as a community today