Searching with Tags: Do Tags Help Users Find Things?

This study examines the question of whether tags can be useful in the process of information retrieval. Participants searched a social bookmarking tool specialising in academic articles (CiteULike) and an online journal database (Pubmed). Participant actions were captured using screen capture software and they were asked to describe their search process. Users did make use of tags in their search process, as a guide to searching and as hyperlinks to potentially useful articles. However, users also made use of controlled vocabularies in the journal database to locate useful search terms and of links to related articles supplied by the database

Henri Temianka Correspondence; (grant)

This collection contains material pertaining to the life, career, and activities of Henri Temianka, violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher, and author. Materials include correspondence, concert programs and flyers, music scores, photographs, and books.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_correspondence/3536/thumbnail.jp

The psychological contract of solicitors and the impact of promotion to partnership

The aim of this research was to draw upon psychological contract theory to examine solicitors’ perceptions of expectations and obligations. Socialisation processes and the role of Organisational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) were explored in relation to promotion to partnership. Context is important as law firms have a different ownership structure to other commercial organisations and employ professionals. The legal profession is changing (Empson, 2007a) due to the increasing size of firms and the changing aspirations of those entering the profession. A mixed method approach to researching these issues was adopted. The research was conducted in two stages. Stage One comprised telephone interviews with 128 solicitors to complete a questionnaire and Stage Two comprised 34 in-depth semi-structured interviews. These interviews were analysed using QSR N6 (NUD*IST) software. The research makes a contribution to the understanding of the psychological contract of professionals in two main areas: theoretical and practical. The utility of a promissory based approach to the psychological contract (Conway and Briner, 2005) is critically examined. The role of OCB is considered in terms of what behaviour can be seen as in-role and what as extra-role and how to identify discretionary behaviour. The results from the quantitative analysis in the study revealed a high degree of similarity in the responses. One explanation proposed is that the process of socialisation experienced by solicitors engenders assumptions about appropriate behaviour and thus expectations are defined and communicated. The research led to the production of two explanatory diagrams of the psychological contract of solicitors. The first typology examines the influences upon the contract and the interactions of expectations and obligations. The second schema examines the impact of promotion to partnership upon work satisfaction. The implications of these for the management of law firms are discussed

Counting published public library research: an exploratory study using content analysis

Studies published in a selected set of 20 scholarly library and information science journals were examined to determine the amount of research conducted about or in public libraries compared with academic, school, and special libraries Only refereed journals published in the U S and targeted for a general audience of librarians were included in the set Of the 241 articles included, 77% were about academic libraries and 23% were about public libraries (30 of the articles (12%) considered more than one library type) Academic librarians published 51% and academic researchers published 38% of the studies Authorship, author occupation, and subjects studied within the subset of public-library-related research articles were also examined. Within the 94 public-library-related articles, academic researchers authored 59%, academic librarians wrote 19%, and public librarians wrote 9% (several of the multi-author articles included more than one occupation m the author list, indicating collaboration among occupations). Possible consequences of a comparatively low number of published studies on the effectiveness of public libraries and practitioners are considered, including a lack of innovation in public libraries, reduced or limited status of public librarians within the profession, and poor representation of public library problems in the overall knowledge base Participation of public librarians m formal research is also discussed, especially in the context of a practice-theory communication gap in library and information science. Future research topics are suggeste

The ultra-violet absorption spectra of some halogen compounds in various solvents

The absorption spectra of SnI₄, SuBr₄, SnCl₄, SnBr₂, C₂I₄, C₂I₂, C₂H₄I₂, CH₂I₂ have been measured in various solvents. It is shown that results of previous workers for SnI₄ have been subject to errors due to decomposition of the compound. This decomposition was prevented in the curves obtained in this work. The decomposition could not be stopped in the case of SnBr₄ and a hypothesis is put to explain this difference in the behaviour of SnI₄ and SnBr₄.The spectra of the iodine compounds are discussed on the basis pf the theory that in compounds containing several iodine atoms and weak X - I bonds part of the absorption is due to interaction between the iodine atoms.The effect of change of solvent on the absorption of the carbon compounds was studied and a tentative explanation put forward

Adoption Of Disabled Children

This Briefing Paper summarises what is known (and not known) from recent key research about the adoption of disabled children. We know from the Adoption Research Initiative (ARi) and a number of other sources that disabled children are regarded as “hard to place” for adoption. We know that there are issues that are particularly pertinent for disabled children for whom adoption is the plan, including the influence of local practice culture on decision-making; the need for clarity and flexibility in assessing disabled children and prospective families; delays at different stages of finding families for disabled children; and support to meet individual children’s specific needs within their placements. The summary aims to stimulate discussion and debate about this group of children and their families (or prospective families) at a particularly important time. The Children and Families Bill 2013, currently before the House of Lords, is taking forward the Government’s plans to reform adoption services (Part 1) and services for children with special educational needs (Part 3), which campaigners have argued should be broadened to include disabled children without special educational needs. The debates linked to this Bill have served to underline the inadequacy of currently available statistics and other data needed to understand more about adoption and disabled children. Underpinning the paper is the view that: ... all children, including those with impairments, have a right to be seen as unique individuals. They also have a right to a family – and to make that more likely, potential families must be shown through every means possible that each child is more than a label or diagnosis (Cousins, 2009). While this paper’s focus is on adoption, it is important to note that there are other placement options that enable permanence for disabled children, all of which can deliver good outcomes for individual children when they are appropriately assessed and supported

Regulation of VCAM-1 Expression by Tgfβ2 during the Formation of the Epicardium

The normal formation of the epicardium, the outer cell layer of the heart, is critical for subsequent development of the heart to proceed normally. Abnormalities in the epicardium lead to cardiac defects as shown in mice deficient in retinoid X receptor α (RXRα-/-), a model of congenital heart disease that exhibits many cardiac malformations including epicardial defects. The RXRα-/- epicardium is slower to form and once formed, it detaches from the myocardium. Previously an elevation of transforming growth factor β2 (TGFβ2) has been observed in RXRα-/- hearts at midgestation and an alteration in vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) was found at E11.5. Based on these findings it was hypothesized that proper expression of VCAM-1 is essential for normal cardiac morphogenesis and is regulated by TGFβ2 and/or retinoid signaling. VCAM-1 is a transmembrane protein known to be involved in epicardial cell adhesion and has been reported to inhibit epithelial to mesenchymal transformation (EMT) of epicardial cells. In this study the expression of VCAM-1 was analyzed from E9.5-E13.5 in the wild type (WT) and RXRα-/- mice using real time quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry and western blotting. At E11.5, VCAM-1 protein expression levels were similar to WT in the RXRα-/- mouse, but later (E12.5 and E13.5) misexpression of VCAM-1 was found in the epicardium of RXRα-/- mice. Specifically, VCAM-1 mRNA and protein were increased in the myocardium of the RXRα-/- heart compared to the WT at E12.5 and E13.5. Elevation of VCAM-1 protein was also found in E13.5 epicardial explants from RXRα-/- embryos. To investigate possible involvement of TGFβ2 in VCAM-1 regulation, E11.5 epicardial explants were treated with TGFβ2 and the treatment was found to promote upregulation of VCAM-1 in the epicardial cells. Treatment of embryos in whole embryo culture with TGFβ2 resulted in elevation of VCAM-1 and also caused epicardial detachment after 18 hours of treatment. RXRα and Smad4 were shown to bind to the mouse VCAM-1 promoter using ChIP analysis and the VCAM-1 promoter can be activated by TGFβ2 treatment (shown through use of a luciferase expression plasmid containing the VCAM1 promoter). Together the findings show that VCAM-1 is elevated in the hearts of RXRα-/- mice and TGFβ2 can regulate VCAM-1 expression in the embryonic heart, particularly in the epicardium. Elevated TGFβ2 in the heart, such as that observed in the RXRα-/- mouse, can cause upregulation of VCAM-1 in the myocardium and epicardium. Upregulation of VCAM-1 could decrease epicardial EMT, which is also observed in the RXRα. From our study we show that proper expression (levels and location) of VCAM-1 is essential for normal heart development and that misexpression of VCAM-1 can negatively affect formation of the heart