An Initial Assessment of Remote Access Computer Laboratories for IS Education: A Multiple Case Study

New technologies are allowing universities and colleges to create remotely accessible, server-based laboratories that support the teaching of server-based software application development. However, the organizational and technical issues associated with implementing these servers often compromise the pedagogical potential of introducing server-based technologies into the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to make an initial assessment of the organizational and technical issues associated with using server-based, remote access computer labs in an academic or IT training environment. Given the investigative nature of this research, a multiple case study method is used including scripted interviews with eighteen leaders in IS education and IT training. An analysis of these cases suggests six categories of issues: (1) organizational issues with lab setup and administration, (2) technical issues with lab setup and administration, (3) cost issues related to faculty, (4) student requirements for the lab, (5) faculty/instructor requirements for the lab, and (6) employer requirements for the lab. We conclude that the major challenge in deploying a remote access computer laboratory is the development of an institutional environment where IT staff and IS faculty work together to design, implement and administer the technologies

A practical application of simulated annealing to clustering

Abstract--We formalize clustering as a partitioning problem with a user-defined internal clustering criterion and present SINICC, an unbiased, empirical method for comparing internal clustering criteria. An application to multi-sensor fusion is described, where the data set is composed of inexact sensor "reports" pertaining to "objects" in an environment. Given these reports, the objective is to produce a representation of the environment, where each entity in the representation is the result of "fusing" sensor reports. Before one can perform fusion, however, the reports must be "associated" into homogeneous clusters. Simulated annealing is used to find a near-optimal partitioning with respect to each of several clustering criteria for a variety of simulated data sets. This method can then be used to determine the "best" clustering criterion for the multi-sensor fusion problem with a given fusion operator

Metacognitive beliefs predict test anxiety and examination performance

Test anxiety is common among university students and impairs examination performance. Existing interventions for test anxiety are not particularly effective. Prior to developing an effective intervention, the key psychological beliefs that predict test anxiety need to be identified. Two transdiagnostic models, the intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) models, propose different beliefs that result in emotional disorder, with beliefs about uncertainty emphasized in the IU model, and metacognitive beliefs emphasized in S-REF model. This study examines if IU and metacognitive beliefs predict test anxiety, and, if the relationship between these beliefs and examination performance is mediated by test anxiety. Undergraduates (n = 134) completed self-report questionnaires at two time points, approximately 3 months apart. At Time 1, during term time, participants completed questionnaires measuring their IU and metacognitive beliefs. At Time 2, participants completed a measure of “state” test anxiety immediately before their examination. IU and metacognitive beliefs were significantly positively correlated with test anxiety, but regression analyses found only the metacognitive belief domain “negative beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of worry” predicted test anxiety. The relationship between “negative beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of worry” and examination performance was mediated by the worry dimension of test anxiety. Overall, “negative beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of worry” appear key to test anxiety. Modification of these metacognitive beliefs in the context of a well-being or study skills program for students could reduce test anxiety and ultimately improve academic performance.</jats:p

A systematic review of the quality of randomized controlled trials of psychological treatments for emotional distress in breast cancer

Objective: Meta-analyses of trials of psychological treatments for emotional distress in breast cancer (BCa) conclude that efficacious treatments exist. Subsequently, their implementation in routine care is widely promoted by health policy. However, the methodological quality of these trials has not been systematically evaluated. The present review investigates this issue. Method: A systematic search identified randomized controlled trials of psychological treatments for emotional distress in BCa. The Psychotherapy Outcome Study Methodology Rating Form was used to assess the quality of trials. Generic design elements, including representativeness of sample, control of concomitant treatments, reporting clinical significance outcomes, and design elements specific to psychotherapy trials, including manualisation, therapist training, and therapist adherence and competence were evaluated. Results: 91 trials were eligible. Overall, methodological quality was low. Generic design elements were limited in most trials: 15% specified as an inclusion criterion that participants were distressed; 10% controlled for concomitant treatments; and 11% reported the clinical significance of findings. Design elements specific to psychotherapy trials were also implemented poorly: 51% used treatment manuals; 8% used certified trained therapists; and monitoring of adherence and competence occurred in 15% and 4%, respectively. Conclusion: The methodological quality of psychological treatment trials for emotional distress in BCa is improving. However, if relevant health policies are to be adequately empirically informed, trials of greater methodological rigour are essential. Trials should include participants with clinical levels of distress, control for concomitant treatments and report the clinical significance of findings. Trialists must also consider the specific requirements of psychotherapy trials

Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora

Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three distributional and phenological shifts consistent with past climatic change occur across the flora, and a comparable number of clades underwent adaptive changes in their flowering phenology (9 clades; half of the clades investigated) as underwent distributional shifts (12 clades; two thirds of the clades investigated). Of extant Cape angiosperm species, 14-41% have been contributed by lineages that show distributional shifts consistent with past climate change, yet a similar proportion (14-55%) arose from lineages that shifted flowering phenology. Conclusions Adaptive changes in ecology at the scale we uncover in the Cape and consistent with past climatic change have not been documented for other floras. Shifts in climate tolerance appear to have been more important in this flora than is currently appreciated, and lineages that underwent such shifts went on to contribute a high proportion of the flora's extant species diversity. That shifts in phenology, on an evolutionary timescale and on such a scale, have not yet been detected for other floras is likely a result of the method used; shifts in flowering phenology cannot be detected in the fossil record