Vocabulary and reading comprehension : instructional effects

Bibliography: leaves 32-34Supported by the National Institute of Educatio

The amazing library race

In this time of disinformation and misinformation, libraries remain a reliable source of truthful and factual information. As they fervently support the agenda of lifelong learning, libraries recognise that there are various influences that redefine the process of student learning. Admittedly, librarians need to be more creative in motivating post-millennial students to help them fully develop their Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills.   This paper explores how games are adopted and utilised by academic libraries as an interactive approach to entice students to learn essential MIL competencies. It shows how games can be a viable tool not only to deliver information literacy (IL) instruction in a collaborative learning environment but to also effectively engage and attract students to use the library resources and services. While the use of games is not novel, the way it is delivered and re-purposed to meet MIL competencies is vital for today’s young generation of learners. This report demonstrates how two academic libraries in the Philippines and Kazakhstan were able to embed MIL skills through a library race challenge. Furthermore, this paper discusses the practical steps undertaken in the preparation of the game as well as the observations made during and after the activity was conducted. From this, other libraries may gain insights and best practices on how to leverage this method to further champion MIL in their own communities

Introducing a Draft Version of the Revised ACM/AIS Undergraduate IS Curriculum Recommendation

Group work encourages creative thinking and provides more efficient problem-solving approaches. The main problem identified in this paper is that students involved in systems analysis courses on tertiary level, struggle to apply theory to real-time situations and find it difficult to generate appropriate modelling solutions. The purpose of this study is to determine whether group work is an effective means to use in the teaching of a systems analysis course, and whether it will improve the effectiveness of how students acquire knowledge of the course content. The perceptions of both facilitators and second year Informatics students were recorded by means of interviews and questionnaires used respectively. It was found that group work positively contributes and adds immense value to the learning experience of students taking a systems analysis course

Repurposing of Meropenem and Nadifloxacin for Treatment of Burn Patients?

The escalating number of multidrug resistant pathogens has demanded the swift development of new and potent antibiotics (ref. 2). Metallo-[beta]-lactamases (MBLs) continue to evolve, rendering the latest generation of carbapenem antibiotics useless (ref. 8). SPM-1, a recently discovered MBL, was isolated from a juvenile leukemia patient residing in a hospital in San Palo, Brazil just prior to the patient succumbing to septicemia brought on by Pseudomonas aeruginosa expressing SPM-1 (ref. 8). Screening of the Johns Hopkins Compound library of 1,514 FDA or FAD approved drugs (ref. 1) identified a novel SPM-1 inhibitor that is synergistically compatible with meropenem. Using clinically achievable concentrations, meropenem coupled with nadifloxacin inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa expressing SPM-1. This shotgun approach to new drug discovery provided a prompt solution to the grave problem of antibiotic resistant pathogens that are thriving in hospitals today

Maintenance of Skilled Performance With Age: A Descriptive Examination of Professional Golfers

Demographic studies indicate a remarkable aging trend in North America. An accurate profile of the decline in physical and cognitive capabilities over time is essential to our understanding of the aging process. This study examined the maintenance of skilled performance across the careers of 96 professional golfers. Data were collected on scoring average, driving distance, driving accuracy, greens in regulation, putts per round, and number of competitive rounds played using online data archives. Analyses indicate that performance in this activity can be maintained to a greater extent than in activities relying on biologically constrained abilities. Although the generalizability of these results to normal aging populations is not known, they suggest that acquired skills can be maintained to a large extent in the face of advancing age

Female Athletes and the Athletic System

This article is a literature review that discussed the difficulty that many female athletes have in making the athletic transition from high school to college athletics. Specific factors that affect the degree of difficulty that female athletes experience as they make the athletic transition, along with information about the rules and expectations of the athletic system and common mistakes that female athletes make, are presented to provide readers with information that may facilitate their ability to identify and understand female athletes who are particularly ineffective in negotiating the athletic transition

The Freshman Athlete's Transition: Athletic and Academic Stressors

This article discusses the high levels of stress experienced by many freshmen student-athletes. Specific athletic and academic stressors, along with self-defeating coping behaviors, are presented to exemplify how stress conditions may, in part, explain some student-athletes' poor athletic/academic performance and transition to college