Think you know your patrons? Using Google Analytics to Discover Patron Behaviors on the James C. Kirkpatrick Library Website

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for libraries. At the University of Central Missouri’s James C. Kirkpatrick Library, Google Analytics is being used to track how patrons use (and don’t use) the library’s website. This has provided a wealth of information – and some surprising findings - that can be used by librarians to improve the overall design of the website, identify geographic areas of users, improve marketing, and make needed adjustments to content so that items can be more readily found by patrons. This poster presentation will examine the data collected at JCKL using Google Analytics and discuss how you can get started using Google Analytics to learn about your patrons.To access the full presentation for this session, click on the Download button located to the right

Analysis and Synthesis of Managerial Jobs: Job Design

The thesis reports research aimed at developing better ways of analysing managerial jobs in order subsequently to design them. The main body of the thesis consists of 13 chapters split into four parts; in the Appendix are presented the questionnaires used in the studies and some further data bearing on the studies. In Part 1 the author presents the reasons for his own interest in, and builds a case through literature evidence for the desirability of research in the area of managerial job design. The author proceeds to define the thesis research boundary and provides a brief introduction to the contents of the other 12 chapters. Part 2 consists of 4 chapters, based on literature review, covering concepts of basic interest to the theory and practice of managerial job design. The four subject areas selectively dealt with are: Motivation (theories and models of man); the nature of the managerial job; organisational components; and theories of job design. Two approaches are taken with this material: (a) For the first three subject areas, the approach is inferential, i.e. given certain theoretical standpoints, where are the implications for managerial job design. (b) For the fourth subject area, theories of job design, the author offers a critical review. Part 3, consists of 6 chapters. Four are reports of the studies conducted by the author and two consolidate the results of these studies with theoretical standpoints. In this part the author develops three standpoints on managerial job design and one on the connectivity of job design constructs. The three standpoints on managerial job design are: lo The measures on the quality of the design of a job.

Long-term Impact of sewage sludge application on rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii: an evaluation using meta-analysis

The Long-Term Sludge Experiment (LTSE) began in 1994 at nine UK field sites as part of continuing research into the effects of sludge-borne heavy metals on soil fertility. The long-term effects of Zn, Cu, and Cd on the most probable numbers of cells (MPN) of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii were monitored for 8 yr in sludge-amended soils. To assess the statutory limits set by the UK Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations, the experimental data were reviewed using statistical methods of meta-analysis. Previous LTSE studies have focused predominantly on statistical significance rather than effect size, whereas meta-analysis focuses on the magnitude and direction of an effect, i.e., the practical significance rather than its statistical significance. Results showed Zn to be the most toxic element causing an overall significant decrease in Rhizobium MPN of −26.6% during the LTSE. The effect of Cu showed no significant effect on Rhizobium MPN at concentrations below the UK limits, although a −5% decrease in Rhizobium MPN was observed in soils where total Cu ranged from 100 to <135 mg kg−1. Overall, there was nothing to indicate that Cd had a significant effect on Rhizobium MPN below the current UK statutory limit. In summary, the UK statutory limit for Zn appears to be insufficient for protecting Rhizobium from Zn toxicity effects

Web 2.0 Tools for Productivity

Librarians spend so much of their time assisting others in the research process that they may suffer from information overload when it comes to their own research. This session is focused on showing librarians tools that will help them become more effective and efficient in their own research. This hands-on session will not only show you where to find useful web tools, but will also give you a chance to try them out and decide which ones are right for you. We will cover tools for research management, collaboration, organization, and more. Come and learn about free web tools that will help you be more productive and organized!To access the full presentation for this session, click on the Download button located to the right

Gene transfer in bacteria from soils contaminated with heavy metals

Transfer of metal resistance plasmids into two pseudomonad recipients, Pseudomonas aureofaciens and Ps. putida, from soil bacteria donor populations, was investigated in agricultural soil contaminated predominantly with Zn and Cu. The putative donor and recipient numbers on selective agar were not affected by the concentration of metals in the soils, nor were the number of transconjugants. However, there were differences in transfer frequencies of Hg and Cu resistance from the different soil samples. This is the first time that transfer of Cu resistance has been observed from native bacteria present in agricultural soils

Superallowed 0+ to 0+ nuclear beta decays: A new survey with precision tests of the conserved vector current hypothesis and the standard model

A new critical survey is presented of all half-life, decay-energy and branching-ratio measurements related to 20 0+ to 0+ beta decays. Compared with our last review, there are numerous improvements: First, we have added 27 recently published measurements and eliminated 9 references; of particular importance, the new data include a number of high-precision Penning-trap measurements of decay energies. Second, we have used the recently improved isospin symmetry-breaking corrections. Third, our calculation of the statistical rate function now accounts for possible excitation in the daughter atom. Finally, we have re-examined the systematic uncertainty associated with the isospin symmetry-breaking corrections by evaluating the radial-overlap correction using Hartree-Fock radial wave functions and comparing the results with our earlier calculations, which used Saxon-Woods wave functions; the provision for systematic uncertainty has been changed as a consequence. The new corrected Ft values are impressively constant and their average, when combined with the muon liftime, yields the up-down quark-mixing element of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix, V_{ud} = 0.97425(22). The unitarity test on the top row of the matrix becomes |V_{ud}|^2 + |V_{us}|^2 + |V_{ub}|^2 = 0.99995(61). Both V_{ud} and the unitarity sum have significantly reduced uncertainties compared with our previous survey, although the new value of V_{ud} is statistically consistent with the old one. From these data we also set limits on the possible existence of scalar interactions, right-hand currents and extra Z bosons. Finally, we discuss the priorities for future theoretical and experimental work with the goal of making the CKM unitarity test even more definitive.Comment: 36 pages, 11 tables, 9 figure

Dual specificity antibodies using a double-stranded oligonucleotide bridge

AbstractThe covalent conjugation of oligonucleotides to antibody Fab’ fragments was optimized by using oligonucleotides modified with a hexaethylene linker arm bearing three amino groups. One oligonucleotide was coupled to antibody of one specificity and a complementary oligonucleotide to antibody of a second specificity. The antibodies were then allowed to hybridize by base pairing of the complementary nucleotide sequences and the generation of bispecific antibody was analyzed on SDS-PAGE and confirmed using BIAcore analysis. The strategy of complementary oligonucleotide-linked bispecific molecules is not limited to antibodies but is applicable to linking any two molecules of different characteristics