Rumours, Bargains and Lies: How to advocate Open Access repositories more successfully

In this workshop seminar delivered twice at the CoFHE/UCR 2006 conference the author explored aspects relating to successful advocacy of Open Access and repositories. Areas covered included preconceptions on the part of academics and support staff, as well as models of implementation of an advocacy programme. A large portion of the material pulls together experience and narrative evidence from the SHERPA Consortium partners and repository administrators; with a particular focus on their successes and failures and the lessons that have been learned

Regimes of Truth and Other Revelations

Introduction to the tenth issue of Exchanges, and the first issue under a new Senior Editor and subtitle alike. This issue has a themed section with several articles addressing the topic of Truth and Evidence, from differing and unique disciplinary perspectives. Alongside this, the journal also contains interviews, and closes with a critical reflection on a law conference. This article introduces the issue, an overview of its contents and moreover provides insights into the developmental progress of the journal itself

Open Access Repositories & Scholarly Publication

This presentation briefly covers some of the issues around Open Access as it pertains to institutional repositories in the UK higher educational sector. It includes an overview of the current activities of SHERPA, along with the benefits, concerns and potential resolutions of issues in the open access sector. Some speculation as to future trends and developments in scholarly publishing and open access is included. The presentation is in no way comprehensive, and is intended to give an overview of the subject to a general audience who will be engaged with academic and scholarly publishing on a variety of levels

Fuselage Pressures Measured on the Bell X-1 Research Airplane in Transonic Flight

Pressure-distribution measurements have been made on the fus elage of the Bell X- 1 research airplane. Data are presented for angles of attack from 2 deg. to 8 deg. during pull-ups at Mach numbers of about 0.78, 0.85, 0.88, and 1.02. The results of the investigation indicated that a large portion of the load carried by the fuselage was in the vicinity of the wing and may be attributed to wing-to-fuselage carryover. The presence of the wing from the 41 to 60 percent fuselage stations influenced the fuselage pressures from about 30 to 65 percent fuselage length at Mach numbers of approximat ely 0.78, 0.85, and 0.88, and from about 35 to 80 percent fuselage length at a Mach number of approximately 1.02. The fuselage contributed about 20 percent of the total airplane normal-force coefficient. The center of pressure of the fuselage load throughout the tests was located from 41 to 51 percent fuselage length, which corresponds to the forward half of the wing root-chord location

Academic Libraries and Learning Support in Collaboration. Library Based Guidance for Peer Assisted Learning Leaders at Bournemouth University: Theory and Practice.

This article begins with an overview of the University’s pioneering Peer Assisted Learning Scheme (PAL) and describes how in 2005/6, the Library became involved, collaborating with the PAL Coordinator to develop materials for use by PAL Leaders. PAL is intended to foster cross-year support between students on the same course. It encourages students to support each other and learn co-operatively under the guidance of trained students from the year above - called PAL Leaders. Two documents were produced to support and empower these leaders. The first, Using the Library for Your Research, provides leaders with key guidance information on the University Library, its resources and the services it provides. The second, Citing References Using the Harvard System, aims to explain and demystify the Harvard Referencing system and to encourage good referencing habits from an early stage of their course through a practical hands-on exercise. Feedback from PAL Leaders continues to inform the development of these guidance materials, in particular the referencing exercise which was reworked to better suit the needs of the leaders delivering it

Life-course pathways to psychological distress: a cohort study

Objectives Early life factors, like intelligence and socioeconomic status (SES), are associated with health outcomes in adulthood. Fitting comprehensive life-course models, we tested (1) the effect of childhood intelligence and SES, education and adulthood SES on psychological distress at midlife, and (2) compared alternative measurement specifications (reflective and formative) of SES. Design Prospective cohort study (the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s). Setting Aberdeen, Scotland. Participants 12 500 live-births (6282 boys) between 1950 and 1956, who were followed up in the years 2001–2003 at age 46–51 with a postal questionnaire achieving a response rate of 64% (7183). Outcome measures Psychological distress at age 46–51 (questionnaire). Results Childhood intelligence and SES and education had indirect effects on psychological distress at midlife, mediated by adult SES. Adult SES was the only variable to have a significant direct effect on psychological distress at midlife; the effect was stronger in men than in women. Alternative measurement specifications of SES (reflective and formative) resulted in greatly different model parameters and fits. Conclusions Even though formative operationalisations of SES are theoretically appropriate, SES is better specified as reflective than as a formative latent variable in the context of life-course modelling

Inherent tracers for carbon capture and storage in sedimentary formations: composition and applications

Inherent tracers - the “natural” isotopic and trace gas composition of captured CO₂ streams – are potentially powerful tracers for use in CCS technology. This review outlines for the first time the expected carbon isotope and noble gas compositions of captured CO₂ streams from a range of feedstocks, CO₂-generating processes and carbon capture techniques. The C-isotope composition of captured CO₂ will be most strongly controlled by the feedstock, but significant isotope fractionation is possible during capture; noble gas concentrations will be controlled by the capture technique employed. Comparison with likely baseline data suggests that CO₂ generated from fossil fuel feedstocks will often have δ13C distinguishable from storage reservoir CO₂. Noble gases in amine-captured CO₂ streams are likely to be low concentration, with isotopic ratios dependant on the feedstock, but CO₂ captured from oxyfuel plants may be strongly enriched in Kr and Xe which are potentially valuable subsurface tracers. CO₂ streams derived from fossil fuels will have noble gas isotope ratios reflecting a radiogenic component that will be difficult to distinguish in the storage reservoir, but inheritance of radiogenic components will provide an easily recognisable signature in the case of any unplanned migration into shallow aquifers or to the surface

Fault interpretation in seismic reflection data: an experiment analysing the impact of conceptual model anchoring and vertical exaggeration

The use of conceptual models is essential in the in- terpretation of reflection seismic data. It allows interpreters to make geological sense of seismic data, which carries inherent uncertainty. However, conceptual models can create powerful anchors that prevent interpreters from reassessing and adapting their interpretations as part of the interpretation process, which can subsequently lead to flawed or erroneous outcomes. It is therefore critical to understand how conceptual models are generated and applied to reduce unwanted effects in interpretation results. Here we have tested how interpretation of vertically exaggerated seismic data influenced the creation and adoption of the conceptual models of 161 participants in a paper-based interpretation experiment. Participants were asked to interpret a series of faults and a horizon, offset by those faults, in a seismic section. The seismic section was randomly presented to the participants with different horizontal-vertical exaggeration (1 : 4 or 1 : 2). Statistical analysis of the results indicates that early anchoring to specific conceptual models had the most impact on interpretation outcome, with the degree of vertical exaggeration having a subdued influence. Three different conceptual models were adopted by participants, constrained by initial observations of the seismic data. Interpreted fault dip angles show no evidence of other constraints (e.g. from the application of accepted fault dip models). Our results provide evidence of biases in interpretation of uncertain geological and geophysical data, including the use of heuristics to form initial conceptual models and anchoring to these models, confirming the need for increased understanding and mitigation of these biases to improve interpretation outcomes

The seasonal cycle of ocean-atmosphere CO2 Flux in Ryder Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula

Approximately 15 million km2 of the Southern Ocean is seasonally ice covered, yet the processes affecting carbon cycling and gas exchange in this climatically important region remain inadequately understood. Here, 3 years of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) measurements and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from Ryder Bay on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) are presented. During spring and summer, primary production in the surface ocean promotes atmospheric CO2 uptake. In winter, higher DIC, caused by net heterotrophy and vertical mixing with Circumpolar Deep Water, results in outgassing of CO2 from the ocean. Ryder Bay is found to be a net sink of atmospheric CO2 of 0.59–0.94 mol C m−2 yr−1 (average of 3 years). Seasonal sea ice cover increases the net annual CO2 uptake, but its effect on gas exchange remains poorly constrained. A reduction in sea ice on the WAP shelf may reduce the strength of the oceanic CO2 sink in this region

Constraining the Geochemical Fingerprints of Gases from the UK Carboniferous Coal Measures at the Glasgow Geoenergy Observatories Field Site, Scotland

Usage of thermal energy contained in abandoned, flooded, coal mines has the potential to contribute to low carbon heating or cooling supply and assist in meeting net-zero carbon emission targets. However, hazardous ground gases, such as CH4 and CO2, can be found naturally in superficial deposits, coal bearing strata and abandoned mines. Determining the presence, magnitude, and origin of subsurface gases, and how their geochemical fingerprints evolve within the shallow subsurface is vital to developing an understanding of how to manage the risk posed by ground gases in geoenergy technology development. Here, we present the first CH4 and CO2 concentration-depth profiles and stable isotope (δ13CCH4, δ13CCO2, and δDCH4) profiles obtained from UK mine workings, through analysis of headspace gas samples degassed from cores and chippings collected during construction of the Glasgow Observatory. These are used to investigate the variability of gas fingerprints with depth within unmined Carboniferous coal measures and Glasgow coal mine workings. Stable isotope compositions of CH4 (δ13CCH4 = −73.4‰ to −14.3‰; δ13CCO2 = −29‰ to −6.1‰; δDCH4 = −277‰ to −88‰) provide evidence of a biogenic source, with carbonate reduction being the primary pathway of CH4 production. Gas samples collected at depths of 63–79 m exhibit enrichments in 13CCH4 and 2H, indicating the oxidative consumption of CH4. This correlates with their proximity to the Glasgow Ell mine workings, which will have increased exposure to O2 from the atmosphere as a result of mining activities. CO2 gas is more abundant than CH4 throughout the succession in all three boreholes, exhibiting high δ13CCO2 values relative to the CH4 present. Gases from unmined bedrock exhibit the highest δ13CCO2 values, with samples from near-surface superficial deposits having the lowest δ13CCO2 values. δ13CCO2 values become progressively lower at shallower depths (above 90 m), which can be explained by the increasing influence of shallow groundwaters containing a mixture of dissolved marine carbonate minerals (∼0‰) and soil gas CO2 (−26‰) as depth decreases. Our findings provide an insight into the variability of mine derived gases within 200 m of the surface, providing an important ‘time-zero’ record of the site, which is required in the design of monitoring approaches