Preservation and conservation decisions in the local library

For a period of years, I have been aware that the decisions regarding preservation which I have made, which I have shared in making, or which have been made by others have not all been of the same nature. The level or levels within the library's staff hierarchy of the persons involved make some decisions differ from other decisions; however, these levels of involvement are not the heart of the problem. The thing lacking was a clear way to designate other distinctions which seemed necessary in attempting to analyze such problems and decisions. I found little help in my reading or sharing experiences with others in attempting to work in this area. In reading the proceedings of the 1976 conference on A National Preservation Program at the Library of Congress, I was therefore quite interested to discover that Daniel Boorstin in opening the conference suggested a division of the questions comprising the problem of preservation. He characterized two rather distinct types of problems as epistemological and technical. He further described the epistemological questions as being social questions, meaning that they are questions relating to the interests of those who will use, administer, and service the materials comprising the collections. I must admit that the term epistemological sent me to the dictionary because it has been some time since I had studied formal philosophical language. At this point, it becomes necessary to understand Boorstin's exact meaning and intention in interjecting this term into the vocabulary of library preservation. Epistemology is defined as "the study of the methods and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity; broadly: the theory of knowledge."published or submitted for publicatio

Self-assembly of a columnar polymeric calcium phosphinate derived from camphene

(2,2-Dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1] hept-3-ylmethyl)phosphinic acid (RPO₂H₂), readily prepared from camphene and hypophosphorous acid, formed a polymeric calcium salt [{Ca(RPO₂H) ₂ (RPO₂H₂)(H₂O)}n], with both terminal and triply bridging phosphinate groups, and an overall columnar structure with an inorganic core and a pseudo-close-packed sheath of terpene moieties

Coordination chemistry of 3- and 4-mercaptobenzoate ligands: Versatile hydrogen-bonding isomers of the thiosalicylate (2-mercaptobenzoate) ligand

This review summarises the coordination chemistry of the isomeric 3- and 4-mercaptobenzoate ligands, derived from HSC6H4COOH, being isomers of the widely-studied 2-mercaptobenzoate (thiosalicylate) ligand. The 3- and 4-mercaptobenzoate ligands show a wide range of coordination modes, including monodentate (through either S or less commonly O), chelation through the carboxylate group alone, as well as a wide range of bridging modes. However, S,O-chelation, which is prevalent for thiosalicylate complexes, is not found in the 3MBA and 4MBA isomers. In the solid-state, complexes of 3MBA and 4MBA ligands containing protonated carboxylic acid groups typically undergo aggregation through formation of classical hydrogen-bonded carboxylic acid dimer motifs, which can be supplemented by additional interactions such as aurophilic (Au� � �Au) interactions in the case of gold(I) complexes. The hybrid hard-soft nature of 3MBA and 4MBA ligands facilitates the use of these ligands in the construction of early-late heterobimetallic complexes. These ligands also find numerous applications (such as the protection of metallic gold and silver nanoparticles), which are especially prevalent for 4MBA where the para carboxylate/carboxylic acid group is remote from the sulfur coordination site

Young Associates in Trouble

In the Shadow of the Law. By Kermit Roosevelt. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2005. Pp. 346. 24. Utterly Monkey: A Novel. By Nick Laird. London & New York: Harper Perennial. 2005. Pp. 344. 13.95. Two recent novels portray the substantively unhappy and morally unfulfilling lives of young associates who work long hours in large, elite law firms. As it turns out, their search for love, happiness, and moral purpose is largely in vain. In the rarefied atmosphere of both fictitious firms, the best and the brightest while away their best years doing document reviews, drafting due diligence memoranda that no one will read, and otherwise presiding over legal matters with lots of zeros but precious little intrinsic interest. If this is what large law firm practice is like, the reader is bound to ask why large law firm jobs are so coveted. Is it really all about money? In this review essay, we compare Kermit Roosevelt\u27s and Nick Laird\u27s bleak portrayals with findings from a unique dataset on law firm profitability, prestige, hours worked, and various measures of several associate satisfactions. We also mine the findings of several empirical studies that track the experience of lawyers over time. We observe that higher firm profitability is associated with higher salaries, bonuses, and prestige. Yet, higher profits also have a statistically significant relationship with longer hours, a less family-friendly workplace, less interesting work, less opportunity to work with partners, less associate training, less communication regarding partnership, and a higher reported likelihood of leaving the firm within the next two years. Nonetheless, graduates from the nation\u27s most elite law schools tend to gravitate toward the most profitable and prestigious (and most grueling) law firms. The attraction of the most elite firms may be superior outplacement options. Or perhaps, as both novels intimate, it may stem from a reluctance to make hard life choices. The available empirical evidence suggests that success within the elite law firm environment often entails a difficult array of personal and professional trade-offs. Although we find our empirical data to be informative, the novel may be a particularly effective vehicle for examining the rather existential nature of these choices. Thus, we suspect that the accounts drawn by Roosevelt and Laird will resonate with many elite, large law firm lawyers

Vertex Expansion for the Bianchi I model

A perturbative expansion of Loop Quantum Cosmological transitions amplitudes of Bianchi I models is performed. Following the procedure outlined in [1,2] for isotropic models, it is shown that the resulting expansion can be written in the form of a series of amplitudes each with a fixed number of transitions mimicking a spin foam expansion. This analogy is more complete than in the isotropic case, since there are now the additional anisotropic degrees of freedom which play the role of `colouring' of the spin foams. Furthermore, the isotropic expansion is recovered by integrating out the anisotropies.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

Platinum(II) phosphonate complexes derived from endo-8-camphanylphosphonic acid

The reactions of cis-[PtCl₂L₂] [L = PPh₃, PMe₂Ph or L₂ = Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂ (dppe)] with endo-8-camphanylphosphonic acid (CamPO₃H₂) and Ag₂O in refluxing dichloromethane gave platinum(II) phosphonate complexes [Pt(O₃PCam)L₂]. The X-ray crystal structure of [Pt(O₃PCam)(PPh₃)₂]•₂CHCl₃ shows that the bulky camphanyl group, rather than being directed away from the platinum, is instead directed into a pocket formed by the Pt and the two PPh₃ ligands. This allows the O₃P–CH₂ group to have a preferred staggered conformation. The complexes were studied in detail by NMR spectroscopy, which demonstrates non-fluxional behaviour for the sterically bulky PPh₃ and dppe derivatives, which contain inequivalent phosphine ligands in their ³¹P NMR spectra. These findings are backed up by theoretical calculations on the PPh₃ and PPhMe₂ derivatives, which show, respectively, high and low energy barriers to rotation of the camphanyl group in the PPh₃ and PPhMe₂ complexes. The X-ray crystal structure of CamPO₃H₂ is also reported, and consists of hydrogen-bonded hexameric aggregates, which assemble to form a columnar structure containing hydrophilic phosphonic acid channels surrounded by a sheath of bulky, hydrophobic camphanyl groups

Mediation of smoking-associated postoperative mortality by perioperative complications in veterans undergoing elective surgery: data from Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program (VASQIP)--a cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the mediation of smoking-associated postoperative mortality by postoperative complications. DESIGN: Observational cohort study. SETTING: Using data from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Surgical Quality Improvement Programme, a quality assurance programme for major surgical procedures in the VA healthcare system, we assessed the association of current smoking at the time of the surgery with 6-month and 1-year mortality. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Using mediation analyses, we calculated the relative contribution of each smoking-associated complication to smoking-associated postoperative mortality, both unadjusted and adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, work relative value unit of the operation, surgeon specialty, American Society of Anesthesiologists class and year of surgery. Smoking-associated complications included surgical site infection (SSI), cardiovascular complications (myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest and/or stroke) and pulmonary complications (pneumonia, failure to wean and/or reintubation). RESULTS: There were 186 632 never smokers and 135 741 current smokers. The association of smoking and mortality was mediated by smoking-related complications with varying effects. In unadjusted analyses, the proportions of mediation of smoking to 6-month mortality explained by the complications were as follows: SSIs 22%, cardiovascular complications 12% and pulmonary complications 89%. In adjusted analyses, the per cents mediated by each complication were as follows: SSIs 2%, cardiovascular complications 4% and pulmonary complications 22%. In adjusted analyses for 1-year mortality, respective per cents mediated were 2%, 3% and 16%. CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary complications, followed by cardiovascular complications and SSIs were mediators of smoking-associated 6-month and 1-year mortality. Interventions targeting smoking cessation and prevention and early treatment of pulmonary complications has the likelihood of reducing postoperative mortality after elective surgery

Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1868 (Kappler)

This 1904 reprint of the Sioux Treaty of 1868, also known as the Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1868, was transcribed and published in vol. II of Charles Kappler’s Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. This treaty, between the United States government and the Sioux and Arapaho Nations, established the Great Sioux Reservation, promised the Sioux would own the Black Hills in perpetuity, and set aside the country north of the North Platte River and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains as unceded Indian territory. Furthermore, the U.S. government pledged to close the Bozeman Trail forts and provide food, clothing, and annuities to the tribes, given that they agreed to relinquish all rights to live outside the reservation.https://commons.und.edu/indigenous-gov-docs/1176/thumbnail.jp

Treaty Of Fort Laramie 1868

This treaty, signed on April 29, 1868, between the United States government and the Sioux and Arapaho Nations, established the Great Sioux Reservation, promised the Sioux would own the Black Hills in perpetuity, and set aside the country north of the North Platte River and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains as unceded Indian territory. Furthermore, the U.S. government pledged to close the Bozeman Trail forts and provide food, clothing, and annuities to the tribes, given that they agreed to relinquish all rights to live outside the reservation.https://commons.und.edu/indigenous-gov-docs/1000/thumbnail.jp