Engaging Alumni: The How and Why of Author Outreach for Dissertation Scanning Projects

In 2008 the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries began a project to digitize their collection of over 14,000 print dissertations, ranging from 1934 to 2006, and upload them to the Institutional Repository (IR@UF). At UF, copyright remains with dissertation authors and not the university. Thus, we started an outreach effort to ask authors to opt in to the Retrospective Dissertation Scanning (RDS) project. We worked with the Alumni Association to get contact information for our doctoral graduates, then reached out to them through multiple mediums: e-mail, letter, and postcard. In 2011 Gail Clement and Melissa Levine published “Copyright and Publication Status of Pre-1978 Dissertations: A Content Analysis Approach.” In light of this, our project transitioned to an opt-out model. In addition to the e-mail, letter, postcard method from the opt-in phase of the project, we added a webpage where authors could opt out of public access for their work. If we did not have contact information for an alumni we performed a “reasonable search” to locate such information. Outreach to alumni for a project like this has many benefits for academic institutions, including fostering a collaboration between libraries and external organizations—the Alumni Association in our case. It expands access to the scholarship of alumni, which not only showcases the institution but also encourages researchers to continue or respond to existing scholarship. Additionally, authors and next-of-kin can reconnect with the library and university and appreciate having their work shared online. In 2011 Gail Clement and Melissa Levine published Copyright and Publication Status of Pre-1978 Dissertations; A Content Analysis Approach. In light of this, our project transitioned to an opt-out model. In addition to the email, letter, postcard method from the opt-in phase of the project, we added a webpage where authors could opt out of public access for their work. If we did not have contact information for an alumni we performed a ‘reasonable search’ to locate such information. Outreach to alumni for a project like this has many benefits for academic institutions, including fostering a collaboration between libraries and external organizations—the Alumni Association in our case. It expands access to the scholarship of alumni, which not only showcases the institution but also encourages researchers to continue or respond to existing scholarship. Additionally, authors and next-of-kin can reconnect with the library and university and appreciate having their work shared online

Connecting the writing process in the science program through learning logs

Writing across the curriculum is an important trend in language programs. As children engage in the language processes within the functions of the content areas, they not only create meaning but extend their thinking-language abilities and their knowledge of science. The writer as a third grade teacher used her students\u27 learning logs in science as one guide to their writing instruction. This qualitative means gave much insight into students\u27 application of writing tasks

Patronin-mediated minus end growth is required for dendritic microtubule polarity.

Microtubule minus ends are thought to be stable in cells. Surprisingly, in Drosophila and zebrafish neurons, we observed persistent minus end growth, with runs lasting over 10 min. In Drosophila, extended minus end growth depended on Patronin, and Patronin reduction disrupted dendritic minus-end-out polarity. In fly dendrites, microtubule nucleation sites localize at dendrite branch points. Therefore, we hypothesized minus end growth might be particularly important beyond branch points. Distal dendrites have mixed polarity, and reduction of Patronin lowered the number of minus-end-out microtubules. More strikingly, extra Patronin made terminal dendrites almost completely minus-end-out, indicating low Patronin normally limits minus-end-out microtubules. To determine whether minus end growth populated new dendrites with microtubules, we analyzed dendrite development and regeneration. Minus ends extended into growing dendrites in the presence of Patronin. In sum, our data suggest that Patronin facilitates sustained microtubule minus end growth, which is critical for populating dendrites with minus-end-out microtubules

A Dream of Spring: Creation of an IR Managers Forum

Sometimes it’s hard to find answers for work‐related questions. This difficulty is compounded when one lacks the means to engage with a community of peers who face similar situations and problems. As institutional repository (IR) managers, we found ourselves with access to resources and listservs that didn’t quite fit our needs. Available discussion spaces were either too general in scope, drowning out repository‐specific concerns; or too narrowly focused on platform‐specific issues and technical details. Lacking an appropriate forum, we decided to create a discussion space for IR managers. The IR Manager Forum (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/irmanagers) is designed to foster a community of practice for reposi- tory managers, regardless of software implementation, institutional setting, or technical expertise. Using the Goo- gle Groups platform, members can post and view threaded messages in an online interface or by e‐mail. Conversations in this space have the potential to help IR managers develop their repository policies and local practices. The authors hope that the forum will also support cross‐platform comparisons to identify useful fea- tures and limitations of various software, areas for practical improvement, and larger trends in institutional repos- itories that speak to their future direction. This paper covers how IR managers from the University of Florida, University of North Texas, Texas A&M University, and University of Massachusetts Amherst created the IR Man- agers Forum. It also gives an overview of the forum’s usage and growth over the first year and a half, and lessons learned along the way

Nicotinamide is an Endogenous Agonist for a C. elegans TRPV OSM-9 and OCR-4 Channel

TRPV ion channels are directly activated by sensory stimuli and participate in thermo-, mechano- and chemo-sensation. They are also hypothesized to respond to endogenous agonists that would modulate sensory responses. Here, we show that the nicotinamide (NAM) form of vitamin B3 is an agonist of a Caenorhabditis elegans TRPV channel. Using heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes, we demonstrate that NAM is a soluble agonist for a channel consisting of the well-studied OSM-9 TRPV subunit and relatively uncharacterized OCR-4 TRPV subunit as well as the orthologous Drosophila Nan-Iav TRPV channel, and we examine stoichiometry of subunit assembly. Finally, we show that behaviours mediated by these C. elegans and Drosophila channels are responsive to NAM, suggesting conservation of activity of this soluble endogenous metabolite on TRPV activity. Our results in combination with the role of NAM in NAD+ metabolism suggest an intriguing link between metabolic regulation and TRPV channel activity

Pathogenic role of delta 2 tubulin in bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy

The pathogenesis of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is poorly understood. Here, we report that the CIPN-causing drug bortezomib (Bort) promotes delta 2 tubulin (D2) accumulation while affecting microtubule stability and dynamics in sensory neurons in vitro and in vivo and that the accumulation of D2 is predominant in unmyelinated fibers and a hallmark of bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy (BIPN) in humans. Furthermore, while D2 overexpression was sufficient to cause axonopathy and inhibit mitochondria motility, reduction of D2 levels alleviated both axonal degeneration and the loss of mitochondria motility induced by Bort. Together, our data demonstrate that Bort, a compound structurally unrelated to tubulin poisons, affects the tubulin cytoskeleton in sensory neurons in vitro, in vivo, and in human tissue, indicating that the pathogenic mechanisms of seemingly unrelated CIPN drugs may converge on tubulin damage. The results reveal a previously unrecognized pathogenic role for D2 in BIPN that may occur through altered regulation of mitochondria motility

Knowledge, experience, and potential risks of dating violence among Japanese university students: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Domestic Violence Prevention Act came into effect in Japan in 2001, but covers only marriage partner violence and post-divorce partner violence, and does not recognize intimate partner violence (IPV). The present study was performed to determine the experience of harassment, both toward and from an intimate partner, and recognition of harassment as IPV among Japanese university students.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A self-administered questionnaire survey regarding the experience of harassment involving an intimate partner was conducted as a cross-sectional study among freshman students in a prefectural capital city in Japan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 274 students participated in the present study. About half of the subjects (both male and female students) had experience of at least one episode of harassment toward or had been the recipient of harassment from an intimate partner. However, the study participants did not recognize verbal harassment, controlling activities of an intimate partner, and unprotected sexual intercourse as violence. Experience of attending a lecture/seminar about domestic violence and dating violence did not contribute to appropriate help-seeking behavior.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>An educational program regarding harassment and violence prevention and appropriate help-seeking behavior should be provided in early adolescence to avoid IPV among youth.</p

The Brexit Botnet and User-Generated Hyperpartisan News

In this paper we uncover a network of Twitterbots comprising 13,493 accounts that tweeted the U.K. E.U. membership referendum, only to disappear from Twitter shortly after the ballot. We compare active users to this set of political bots with respect to temporal tweeting behavior, the size and speed of retweet cascades, and the composition of their retweet cascades (user-to-bot vs. bot-to-bot) to evidence strategies for bot deployment. Our results move forward the analysis of political bots by showing that Twitterbots can be effective at rapidly generating small to medium-sized cascades; that the retweeted content comprises user-generated hyperpartisan news, which is not strictly fake news, but whose shelf life is remarkably short; and, finally, that a botnet may be organized in specialized tiers or clusters dedicated to replicating either active users or content generated by other bots