NamesforLife Semantic Resolution Services for the Life Sciences

A major challenge in bioinformatics, life sciences, and medicine is using correct and informative names. While this sounds simple enough, many different naming conventions exist in the life sciences and medicine that may be either complementary or competitive with other naming conventions. For a variety of reasons, proper names are not always used, leading to an accumulated semantic ambiguity that readers of the literature and end users of databases are left to resolve on their own. This ambiguity is a growing problem and the biocuration community is aware of its consequences. 

To assist those confronted with ambiguous names (which not only includes researchers but clinicians, manufacturers, patent attorneys, and others who use biological data in their routine work), we developed a generalizable semantic model that represents names, concepts, and exemplars (representations of biological entities) as distinct objects. By identifying each object with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) it becomes possible to place forward-pointing links in the published literature, in databases, and vector graphics that can be used as part of a mechanism for resolving ambiguities, thereby “future proofing” a nomenclature or terminology. A full implementation of the N4L model for the _Bacteria_ and _Archaea_ was released in April, 2010. The system is professionally curated and represents a Tier III resource in Parkhill’s view of bioinformatic services. A variety of tools and web services have been developed for readers, publishers, and others (N4L Guide, N4L Autotagger, N4L Semantic Search, N4L Taxonomic Abstracts) and we are incorporating other taxonomies into the N4L data model, as well as adding additional phenotypic, genotypic, and genomic information to the existing exemplars to add greater value to end users

A cultural communities approach to teacher early literacy practices

Increased awareness of the school readiness gap, particularly for students from ethnic and linguistically diverse backgrounds, has led policy makers, researchers, and practitioners to examine the quality of language and literacy experiences of low income preschoolers. This nested case study used a mixed methods design to describe teacher language and literacy practices in a Head Start program serving predominantly dual language Mexican heritage children. Adopting a sociocultural perspective on literacy development, the research used the construct of cultural communities to examine the role of teacher beliefs, values and goals for children on espoused and enacted early literacy practices. Findings indicated a complex relationship between espoused and enacted practices that could be traced to teachers' participation in various and overlapping cultural communities. Teachers in the study struggled to name research based practices and while effective strategies were observed, they did not occur with sufficient frequency or duration to lead to improved educational outcomes for children at risk. Physical, cultural, and linguistic context mediated teacher practices in complex and multifaceted ways, which emerged as a major finding of the study. In addition, data pointed to a lack of intentional teaching and deep understanding of early childhood development in general and early language and literacy in particular. Important implication for practice emerged, including the need to continue to explore pre-service education, the role of leadership in early childhood education, and the affect of teacher beliefs on practices, including those for dual language learner

A cultural communities approach to teacher early literacy practices

Increased awareness of the school readiness gap, particularly for students from ethnic and linguistically diverse backgrounds, has led policy makers, researchers, and practitioners to examine the quality of language and literacy experiences of low income preschoolers. This nested case study used a mixed methods design to describe teacher language and literacy practices in a Head Start program serving predominantly dual language Mexican heritage children. Adopting a sociocultural perspective on literacy development, the research used the construct of cultural communities to examine the role of teacher beliefs, values and goals for children on espoused and enacted early literacy practices. Findings indicated a complex relationship between espoused and enacted practices that could be traced to teachers' participation in various and overlapping cultural communities. Teachers in the study struggled to name research based practices and while effective strategies were observed, they did not occur with sufficient frequency or duration to lead to improved educational outcomes for children at risk. Physical, cultural, and linguistic context mediated teacher practices in complex and multifaceted ways, which emerged as a major finding of the study. In addition, data pointed to a lack of intentional teaching and deep understanding of early childhood development in general and early language and literacy in particular. Important implication for practice emerged, including the need to continue to explore pre-service education, the role of leadership in early childhood education, and the affect of teacher beliefs on practices, including those for dual language learner

Using the Teaching and Guidance Policy Essentials Checklistto Build and Support Effective Early Childhood Systems

The prevalence of preschool expulsion, coupledwith racial disparities in expulsion rates and the potential longterm negative effects of challenging behaviors in the early years,has created an urgent need to build early childhood systems toaddress these issues. The teaching and guidance policy essen?tials checklist (TAG-PEC) has been developed to assess nineessential features of high quality early childhood disciplinepolicies and can be used by early childhood programs in avariety of settings to evaluate, refine, and revise existing policiesor guide in the development of new policies. Using data from282 guidance policies assessed using the TAG-PEC, the authorsuse a framework for systems building developed by Coffman(A framework for evaluating systems initiatives, 2007) to po?sition the TAG-PEC as a powerful tool that can be used to helpbuild and support an effective and cohesive early childhoodsystem. Findings indicate that, overall, discipline policies werenot high quality and there was a great deal of variability in theTAG-PEC scores. By bringing evidence based practices to thefield via a simple to use checklist, the authors hope to helpcontribute to the development of a comprehensive early child?hood system and that supports programs in the provision of highquality services to children and families

The minimum information about a genome sequence (MIGS) specification

With the quantity of genomic data increasing at an exponential rate, it is imperative that these data be captured electronically, in a standard format. Standardization activities must proceed within the auspices of open-access and international working bodies. To tackle the issues surrounding the development of better descriptions of genomic investigations, we have formed the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC). Here, we introduce the minimum information about a genome sequence (MIGS) specification with the intent of promoting participation in its development and discussing the resources that will be required to develop improved mechanisms of metadata capture and exchange. As part of its wider goals, the GSC also supports improving the 'transparency' of the information contained in existing genomic databases