Students\u27 Success With World Wide Web Search Engines: Retrieving Relevant Results With Respect to End-User Relevance Judgments

Search engines are currently the most popular method of information retrieval on the World Wide Web. However, researchers have not thoroughly examined search engines as they are used and judged by novice end-users. Calumet College of St. Joseph (CCSJ) required an investigation of search engine results to reveal how Web search engines supported the information seeking of CCSJ students. This study determined the effectiveness of information gathering through six popular search engines: Excite, Google, Lycos, MSN, Northern Light, and Yahoo!. It included an investigation of the relevance of search engine results as established by end-user relevance judgments made by novice information seekers, CCSJ students. Students in seven CCSJ English classes participated in this study. A questionnaire gathered demographic data and information about students\u27 computer use, information retrieval experience, and experience with the World Wide Web. Students searched six search engines with search topics and queries of their choice and ranked the first \0 results according to their own relevance judgments (1 was most relevant and 10 was least relevant) . The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient determined what correlation existed between the relevance rankings of the search engines and the rankings of the students. Results showed a low correlation, though a test of significance determined that this correlation is not statistically significant. Therefore, currently popular search engines are not effective in retrieving results for information-seeking CCSJ students though they may be successful some of the time. No search engine outperformed the others in this experiment, though it is also evident that no search engine consistently performed badly enough to indicate that it was the poorest performer. Furthermore, the frequency with which students used the Web, online databases/indexes, and search engines was highly correlated with search success. Two issues surfaced during the course of this study: some students\u27 lack of computer skills, and some students\u27 inability to construct appropriate search statements. CCSJ should take action in the areas of computer literacy and information literacy (specifically information retrieval on the World Wide Web) in order to prepare these students for the increased importance of this popular measure of information retrieval in their lives

You Don\u27t Own Me: Feral Dogs and the Question of Ownership

Feral dogs occupy an ambiguous position, challenging standard categories of domestication, wildness, and property ownership. This ambiguity, in turn, complicates the legal status of feral dogs. Feral dogs\u27 property status is particularly critical, as whether a feral dog is owned by someone, or no one at all, hold implications not only for civil and criminal liability in incidents involving feral dogs, but also the legal ability of animal rescue organizations to intervene in the lives of feral dogs. Part II of this Article summarizes the application of property law to ani­mals, particularly highlighting the role played by an animal\u27s status as wild or domestic; Part III explores the factors distin­guishing feral dogs from other canines, determining that feral dogs should properly be situated as domestic animals; Part IV discusses the legal landscape relevant to feral dogs, focusing particularly on ownership and liability; and Part V examines the ways in which the property status of feral dogs may impact an animal rescue organization\u27s ability to care for those animals

Large recurrent microdeletions associated with schizophrenia

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldReduced fecundity, associated with severe mental disorders, places negative selection pressure on risk alleles and may explain, in part, why common variants have not been found that confer risk of disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and mental retardation. Thus, rare variants may account for a larger fraction of the overall genetic risk than previously assumed. In contrast to rare single nucleotide mutations, rare copy number variations (CNVs) can be detected using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. This has led to the identification of CNVs associated with mental retardation and autism. In a genome-wide search for CNVs associating with schizophrenia, we used a population-based sample to identify de novo CNVs by analysing 9,878 transmissions from parents to offspring. The 66 de novo CNVs identified were tested for association in a sample of 1,433 schizophrenia cases and 33,250 controls. Three deletions at 1q21.1, 15q11.2 and 15q13.3 showing nominal association with schizophrenia in the first sample (phase I) were followed up in a second sample of 3,285 cases and 7,951 controls (phase II). All three deletions significantly associate with schizophrenia and related psychoses in the combined sample. The identification of these rare, recurrent risk variants, having occurred independently in multiple founders and being subject to negative selection, is important in itself. CNV analysis may also point the way to the identification of additional and more prevalent risk variants in genes and pathways involved in schizophrenia