European Union information in public libraries in the United Kingdom.

This report presents some of the key findings of a research project, funded by the British Library Research and Innovation Centre, which investigated the provision of European Union information in UK public libraries. The project focused, in particular, on the implementation of the Public Information Relay (PIR) - a European Commission initiative designed to bring European Union information closer to the British public through the existing public library network. This chapter presents findings from a survey of 117 public library authorities in the PIR network, and a survey of 372 users of the public libraries in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Moray

European Union information in public libraries in the United Kingdom.

This report describes a British Library funded research project which investigated the provision of European information in public libraries in the United Kingdom, and in particular the implementation of the Public Information Relay - a European Commission initiative designed to bring EU information closer to the British public through the existing public library network. The key elements of the project included: a questionnaire-based survey of all public library authorities participating in the PIR (response rate: 117 out of 154, i.e. 76%), which examined past and present levels of European information provision, the manner in which the PIR service was being implemented, and any potential problems and solutions; a series of 8 case study visits to a representative sample of PIR members; and a survey of the European information needs of over 370 users in Aberdeen City, Glasgow City and Moray District Libraries. In addition, the project team organised a seminar, which was held at the Representation of the European Commission in London on 25th June 1996, and was attended by some 47 delegates from UK public library authorities and other interested parties, including the Society of Chief Librarians in England and Wales, the Scottish Library and Information Council, and the Library and Information Commission. The purpose of this event was to allow feedback and qualitative response from practitioners on the results of the project to date. The report discusses the background to the PIR and the literature to date, as well as the project's methodology and major findings. The project found that libraries were making very positive efforts to develop their European information services, but that there were concerns about the future development and resourcing of membership of the Relay. While the support of the European Commission was seen as valuable by respondents, the majority of libraries served a wider community of need than was envisaged by the remit of the PIR, in particular being heavily used for educational and business related purposes

The provision of European information by public libraries in the UK.

Describes a British Library Research and Innovation Centre-funded project to investigate the provision of European information in public libraries in the UK, via the establishment of the Public Information Relay (PIR), a European Commission initiative to provide information about the European Union to the general public. Discusses the background to the PIR and the literature to date. Describes the project methodology and discusses the major findings of the project. The project found that libraries were making very positive efforts to develop their European information services, but that there were concerns about the future development and resourcing of membership of the Relay. While the support of the European Commission was seen as valuable by respondents, the majority of libraries served a wider community of need than was envisaged by the remit of the PIR, in particular being heavily used for educational and business related purposes

A review of the genus Agapetus Curtis (Trichoptera: Glossosomatidae) in eastern and central North America, with description of 12 new species

Twenty-nine species of caddisflies in the genus Agapetus Curtis in eastern and central North America are reviewed. Twelve are described as new species: Agapetus aphallus (known only from females); Agapetus baueri, Agapetus flinti, Agapetus harrisi, Agapetus hesperus, Agapetus ibis, Agapetus kirchneri, Agapetus meridionalis, Agapetus pegram, Agapetus ruiteri, Agapetus stylifer, and Agapetus tricornutus. Agapetus rossi Denning 1941 is recognized as a junior subjective synonym of Agapetus walkeri (Betten and Mosely 1940), new synonym. A key to males is provided, and species’ distributions are mapped

Vision rehabilitation services : what is the evidence? Final report.

Sight loss affects all aspects of well-being including daily functioning and mental health. Demographic trends suggest that the number of people with visual impairment is set to rise significantly, with many people experiencing an additional disability or health problems. By 2050, the number of blind and partially sighted people in the UK is estimated to increase by around 122 per cent, to approximately four million. Promoting preventive and rehabilitation interventions is recognised as a high priority for all care settings as a way of reducing demands on health and social care services. This research, funded by the Thomas Pocklington Trust, aimed to provide an overview of the evidence base for community-based vision rehabilitation services for people over the age of 18 with visual impairment. The study focused on rehabilitation services funded by local authorities to find out how these services are currently supporting people with visual impairment, what possible outcomes they might achieve and to identify gaps in the evidence base about current service arrangements. The study was carried out in England. Findings were intended to inform a future full scale evaluation as well as inform services

America's Complex Relationship With Guns: An In-depth Look at the Atttitudes and Experiences of U.S. Adults

A new Pew Research Center survey attempts to better understand the complex relationship Americans have with guns and how that relationship intersects with their policy views.The survey finds that Americans have broad exposure to guns, whether they personally own one or not. At least two-thirds have lived in a household with a gun at some point in their lives. And roughly seven-in-ten – including 55% of those who have never personally owned a gun – say they have fired a gun at some point. Today, three-in-ten U.S. adults say they own a gun, and an additional 36% say that while they don't own one now, they might be open to owning a gun in the future. A third of adults say they don't currently own a gun and can't see themselves ever doing so.To be sure, experiences with guns aren't always positive: 44% of U.S. adults say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, and about a quarter (23%) say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun. Half see gun violence as a very big problem in the U.S. today, although gun owners and non-owners offer divergent views on this.Gun owners and non-owners are also deeply divided on several gun policy proposals, but there is agreement on some restrictions, such as preventing those with mental illnesses and those on federal watch lists from buying guns. Among gun owners, there is a diversity of views on gun policy, driven in large part by party affiliation.The nationally representative survey of 3,930 U.S. adults, including 1,269 gun owners, was conducted March 13 to 27 and April 4 to 18, 2017, using the Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel

Electronic public informaton and Europe: an electronic forum in support of transparency and openness in government.

This article outlines the details of a British Library Research and Development Department funded project on the provision of European Union information in public libraries in the UK. It explains how European Union information is currently being provided to the public in the EU Public Information Relay and emphasises the issues involved in providing European Union information electronically

Two new young, wide, magnetic + non-magnetic double-degenerate binary systems

We report the discovery of two, new, rare, wide, double-degenerate binaries that each contain a magnetic and a non-magnetic star. The components of SDSS J092646.88+132134.5 + J092647.00+132138.4 and of SDSS J150746.48+521002.1 + J150746.80+520958.0 have angular separations of only 4.6 arcsec (a∼ 650 au) and 5.1 arcsec (a∼ 750 au), respectively. They also appear to share common proper motions. Follow-up optical spectroscopy has revealed each system to consist of a DA and a H-rich high-field magnetic white dwarf (HFMWD). Our measurements of the effective temperatures and the surface gravities of the DA components reveal both to have larger masses than is typical of field white dwarfs. By assuming that these degenerates have evolved essentially as single stars, owing to their wide orbital separations, we can use them to place limits on the total ages of the stellar systems. These suggest that in each case the HFMWD is probably associated with an early-type progenitor (Minit > 2 M⊙). We find that the cooling time of SDSS J150746.80+520958.0 (DAH) is lower than might be expected had it followed the evolutionary path of a typical single star. This mild discord is in the same sense as that observed for two of the small number of other HFMWDs for which progenitor mass estimates have been made, RE J0317-853 and EG 59. The mass of the other DAH, SDSS J092646.88+132134.5, appears to be smaller than expected on the basis of single-star evolution. If this object was/is a member of a hierarchical triple system it may have experienced greater mass loss during an earlier phase of its life as a result of its having a close companion. The large uncertainties on our estimates of the parameters of the HFMWDs suggest that a larger sample of these objects is required to firmly identify any trends in their inferred cooling times and progenitor masses. This should shed further light on their formation and on the impact magnetic fields have on the late stages of stellar evolution. To serve as a starting point, we highlight two further candidate young, wide magnetic + non-magnetic double-degenerate systems within SDSS, CBS 229 and SDSS J074853.07+302543.5 + J074852.95+302543.4, which should be subjected to detailed (resolved) spectroscopic follow-up studie

Neurotoxic lesions of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex impair object-in-place scene memory

Disconnection of the frontal lobe from the inferotemporal cortex produces deficits in a number of cognitive tasks that require the application of memory-dependent rules to visual stimuli. The specific regions of frontal cortex that interact with the temporal lobe in performance of these tasks remain undefined. One capacity that is impaired by frontal–temporal disconnection is rapid learning of new object-in-place scene problems, in which visual discriminations between two small typographic characters are learned in the context of different visually complex scenes. In the present study, we examined whether neurotoxic lesions of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in one hemisphere, combined with ablation of inferior temporal cortex in the contralateral hemisphere, would impair learning of new object-in-place scene problems. Male macaque monkeys learned 10 or 20 new object-in-place problems in each daily test session. Unilateral neurotoxic lesions of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex produced by multiple injections of a mixture of ibotenate and N-methyl-d-aspartate did not affect performance. However, when disconnection from inferotemporal cortex was completed by ablating this region contralateral to the neurotoxic prefrontal lesion, new learning was substantially impaired. Sham disconnection (injecting saline instead of neurotoxin contralateral to the inferotemporal lesion) did not affect performance. These findings support two conclusions: first, that the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is a critical area within the frontal lobe for scene memory; and second, the effects of ablations of prefrontal cortex can be confidently attributed to the loss of cell bodies within the prefrontal cortex rather than to interruption of fibres of passage through the lesioned area