540,754 research outputs found

    Using fixed-price auctions for selection in communities of web services

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    © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. This paper introduces an approach that allows Web services to handle user requests where the price that the users are willing to pay is fixed. In such cases, a user search for the highest quality of service based on the submitted fixed price. Instead of searching for individualWeb services, the user finds it more convenient to send requests to middlemen (or brokers) who act on behalf of a group of Web services. These middlemen then select a Web service within the group to handle the request. In this paper we demonstrate how fixed price requests can be included into the operation of a community of Web services. Our approach introduces auction theory into the selection process. Experiments using real world values are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach

    How should libraries respond to new forms of publication? Some reflections on the expectations of users and providers and what could be realized at the present state of technical development

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    "The paper focuses on the possibilities and problems created for the humanities by the usage of Digital Libraries. The exchange of information, forms of discussion and the process of publication in the scientific communities have changed over the recent years. On the other hand the user group of digital libraries is heterogeneous and difficult to define. We discuss the organization structure and the working process of two communities, which have quickly adapted their communication process to the use of web-technologies: the Open Source community and the scientific research community. We have to distinguish the communication technique, the applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), including search engines, and the barely started developments to realize new Web Services for DL-oriented applications, to support the library services and finally to obtain a new concept, which we call long-term access to digital structured resources by contract. A DL user views a Web Service as a 'black box' and the service has an interface. The user has only to know the preconditions so that the postconditions will support his/her requirements. We conclude by stating that we should accept that publishing and distributing structural digital resources/information is a new way of (scientific) publication based on collaborative structures. Libraries should respond to this development by providing dynamic metadata in a decentralized network of libraries." (author's abstract

    Getting ahead of the curve: an investigation into how the Caltech Library succeeds in resource sharing (paper presented to the IFLA Interlending and Document Supply Conference (Paris, 2017)

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    This paper will address the challenges faced by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Library, its history in supplying research materials to its community, and the significant shift in its collections strategy in 2015 that directly affected how the Library would continue to provide information resources to its students, faculty, and staff through resource sharing. Prior to 2015, the Caltech Library had approached procuring information resources for its campus community in a hybrid model that married together the typical academic library process of interlibrary loan with a business or special library practice of purchasing material and charging users for the service. Based on a number of factors in 2015, this process shifted to a multi-faceted approach that utilized an increased use of consortia, mediated article purchasing, and an unmediated article acquisition process where our users can decide whether to use the normal interlibrary loan process or a “rush” alternative. This included embedding the unmediated rush option within search engines such as Web of Science and Ebsco Discovery Service (EDS). This paper will share the findings of this strategic change and the outcomes based on the data

    Successes, challenges and needs regarding rural health medical education in continental central America: A literature review and narrative synthesis

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    Introduction: Central American countries, like many others, face a shortage of rural health physicians. Most medical schools in this region are located in urban areas and focus on tertiary care training rather than on community health or primary care, which are better suited for rural practice. However, many countries require young physicians to do community service in rural communities to address healthcare provider shortages. This study aimed to: (a) synthesize what is known about the current state of medical education preparing physicians for rural practice in this region, and (b) identify common needs, challenges and opportunities for improving medical education in this area. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted between December 2013 and May 2014. The stepwise, reproducible search process included English and Spanish language resources from both data-based web search engines (PubMed, Web of Science/Web of Knowledge, ERIC and Google Scholar) and the grey literature. Search criteria included MeSH terms: ‘medical education’, ‘rural health’, ‘primary care’, ‘community medicine’, ‘social service’, in conjunction with ‘Central America’, ‘Latin America’, ‘Mexico’, ‘Guatemala’, ‘Belize’, ‘El Salvador’, ‘Nicaragua’, ‘Honduras’, ‘Costa Rica’ and ‘Panama’. Articles were included in the review if they (1) were published after 1984; (2) focused on medical education for rural health, primary care, community health; and (3) involved the countries of interest. A narrative synthesis of the content of resources meeting inclusion criteria was done using qualitative research methods to identify common themes pertaining to the study goals. Results: The search revealed 20 resources that met inclusion criteria. Only four of the 20 were research articles; therefore, information about this subject was primarily derived from expert opinion. Thematic analysis revealed the historical existence of several innovative programs that directly address rural medicine training needs, suggesting that expertise is present in this region. However, numerous challenges limit sustainability or expansion of successful programs. Common challenges include: (a) physicians’ exposure to rural medicine primarily takes place during social service commitment time, rather than during formal medical training; (b) innovative educational programs are often not sustainable due to financial and leadership challenges; (c) the majority of physician manpower is in urban areas, resulting in few rural physician role models and teachers; and (d) there is insufficient collaboration to establish clinical and educational systems to meet rural health needs. Recurring suggestions for curricular changes include: (a) making primary care training a core component of medical school education; and (b) expanding medical school curricula in crosscultural communication and social determinants of disease. Suggestions for health system changes include: (a) improving living and working conditions for rural physicians; and (b) establishing partnerships between educational, governmental and non-governmental organizations and rural community leadership, to promote rural health training and systems. Conclusions: Expertise in rural medicine and training exists in continental Central America. However, there are numerous challenges to improving medical education to meet the needs of rural communities. Overcoming these challenges will require creative solutions, new partnerships, and evaluation and dissemination of successful educational programs. There is a great need for further research on this topic

    Evaluating the Online Activity and Searching Behaviour of Users of a Medical Digital Library

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    The National electronic Library of Infection (NeLI) is a UK-based resource, providing free access to current best-available evidence in Infectious Disease for the public and professionals alike. The content of the NeLI is intended to be developed and maintained by an online community of professionals. The library is currently running as a pilot website and analysis of the behaviour of current users, in particular professionals in the field of infectious disease is necessary to inform development of the new NeLI website. A web log analysis was undertaken for the period January 2002 to June 2003. In particular use by hospital/National Health Service (NHS)-based users was evaluated. Results indicate an increase in activity during the period and an increase in the number of hospital/NHS-based users. Hospital/NHS-based users were more likely to return to the site, spend more time on the site and to view more pages than other users. In addition, a free text search facility was added in July 2003 and an analysis of the queries entered into this search has also informed further library development and will be evaluated in future research. Further research is now necessary to promote the library among professionals and develop the online community

    The Fascinator: A lightweight, modular contribution to the Fedora-commons world

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    4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Fedora User Group PresentationsDate: 2009-05-20 01:30 PM – 03:00 PMThe Australian government has supported the development of repository infrastructure for several years now. One product of this support was the ARROW project (Australian Research Repositories Online to the World). The ARROW project sponsored a hybrid commercial/open-source approach to building vendor-supported repository infrastructure with open-source underpinnings. One of the open-source contributions, which complements the vendor-sourced product adopted by many of the ARROW partners is a simple to install and configure front-end web service for Fedora repositories known as "The Fascinator". The Fascinator was conceived initially as a way to prove a point in an ongoing dialogue within the ARROW project about repository architecture. The goal was to test the hypothesis that it would be possible to build a useful, fast, flexible web front end for a repository using a single fast indexing system to handle browsing via facets, full-text search, multiple 'portal' views of subsets of a large corpus, and most importantly, easy-to administer security that could handle the most common uses cases seen in the ARROW community. This contrasted with the approach taken by ARROW's commercial partner, which used several different indices to achieve only some of the same functionality in an environment which was much more complex to manage and configure. We will give an overview of the product in both functional and technical terms. Functionally, The Fascinator offers: Click-to-create portals. Easy to configure security based on a query-based filter system, the repository owner can express security in terms of saved-searches that define what a user or group is allowed to see. Highly flexible indexing of a Fedora repository for administrators (and by extension anything the harvesting module can scrape-up). Technically, The Fascinator is a modular system, written in Java so it is easy to deploy with Fedora and Solr, consisting of: An indexing system for Fedora which builds on the standard G-Search supplied with the software, and some work done by the Muradora team. A configurable harvesting application which can ingest data from OAI-PMH, ORE, and local file systems. A web portal application which can be used to build flexible front end websites or act as a service to other sites via an HTTP API. An OAI-PMH (and ATOM archive) system which can create sub-feeds from a repository very easily without complexities like OAI-PMH sets. An easy to use installer for Unix based platforms allowing a systems administrator to install the application along with Fedora and Solr with a few keystrokes. While The Fascinator's goals were modest it has been met with some enthusiasm by repository managers in Australia and beyond, and is being trialled and/or piloted in a small number of sites across the world.ARROW project, Monash Universit

    MIMOX: a web tool for phage display based epitope mapping

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    BACKGROUND: Phage display is widely used in basic research such as the exploration of protein-protein interaction sites and networks, and applied research such as the development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. It has also become a promising method for epitope mapping. Research on new algorithms that assist and automate phage display based epitope mapping has attracted many groups. Most of the existing tools have not been implemented as an online service until now however, making it less convenient for the community to access, utilize, and evaluate them. RESULTS: We present MIMOX, a free web tool that helps to map the native epitope of an antibody based on one or more user supplied mimotopes and the antigen structure. MIMOX was coded in Perl using modules from the Bioperl project. It has two sections. In the first section, MIMOX provides a simple interface for ClustalW to align a set of mimotopes. It also provides a simple statistical method to derive the consensus sequence and embeds JalView as a Java applet to view and manage the alignment. In the second section, MIMOX can map a single mimotope or a consensus sequence of a set of mimotopes, on to the corresponding antigen structure and search for all of the clusters of residues that could represent the native epitope. NACCESS is used to evaluate the surface accessibility of the candidate clusters; and Jmol is embedded to view them interactively in their 3D context. Initial case studies show that MIMOX can reproduce mappings from existing tools such as FINDMAP and 3DEX, as well as providing novel, rational results. CONCLUSION: A web-based tool called MIMOX has been developed for phage display based epitope mapping. As a publicly available online service in this area, it is convenient for the community to access, utilize, and evaluate, complementing other existing programs. MIMOX is freely available at

    Enabling discoverable trusted services for highly dynamic decentralized workflows

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    Fifth generation (5G) mobile networks will revolutionize edge-based computing by providing fast and reliable network capabilities to remote sensors, devices and microservices. This heralds new opportunities for researchers, allowing remote instrumentation and analytic capabilities to be as accessible as local resources. The increased availability of remote data and services presents new opportunities for collaboration, yet introduces challenges for workflow orchestration, which will need to adapt to consider an increased choice of available services, including those from trusted partners and the wider community. In this paper we outline a workflow approach that provides decentralized discovery and orchestration of verifiably trustable services in support of multi-party operations. We base this work on the adoption of standardised data models and protocols emerging from hypermedia research, which has demonstrated success in using combinations of Linked Data, Web of Things (WoT) and semantic technologies to provide mechanisms for autonomous goal-directed agents to discover, execute and reuse new heterogeneous resources and behaviours in large-scale, dynamic environments. We adopt Verifiable Credentials (VCs) to securely share information amongst peers based on prior service usage in a cryptographically secure and tamperproof way, providing a trust-based framework for ratifying service qualities. Collating these new service description channels and integrating with existing decentralized workflow research based on vector symbolic architecture (VSA) provides an enhanced semantic search space for efficient and trusted service discovery that will be necessary for 5G edge-computing environments
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