Extraction and parsing of herbarium specimen data: Exploring the use of the Dublin core application profile framework

Herbaria around the world house millions of plant specimens; botanists and other researchers value these resources as ingredients in biodiversity research. Even when the specimen sheets are digitized and made available online, the critical information about the specimen stored on the sheet are not in a usable (i.e., machine-processible) form. This paper describes a current research and development project that is designing and testing high-throughput workflows that combine machine- and human-processes to extract and parse the specimen label data. The primary focus of the paper is the metadata needs for the workflow and the creation of the structured metadata records describing the plant specimen. In the project, we are exploring the use of the new Dublin Core Metadata Initiative framework for application profiles. First articulated as the Singapore Framework for Dublin Core Application Profiles in 2007, the use of this framework is in its infancy. The promises of this framework for maximum interoperability and for documenting the use of metadata for maximum reusability, and for supporting metadata applications that are in conformance with Web architectural principles provide the incentive to explore and add implementation experience regarding this new framework

Transmedial Documentation for Non-Visual Image Access

In my doctoral studies on information accessibility for the individual who is blind or visually impaired, I’ve been exploring the ways we can make image documents more accessible. This requires using an alternative sensory modality, and translating the document into a different format. The questions that arise when we consider this process are many, but among them are: Is it the same document once we’ve converted it to an audio narrative about the work, or a 3D topographic map of an artwork, or a musical interpretation? If it is not the same document, how truthful can the “trans-medial” translation be to the original work? Are such efforts valid and useful? I hope to work with users who have low vision to determine if these image re-documentations are indeed useful and what means of representation are preferred. We now convert textbooks to audio books or electronic texts readable by special equipment, but how do we treat the images in these documents? The images are part of a whole (the textbook), but are also documents in and of themselves. They may have a history apart from the work within which they’re found. They may be reproduced with permission from copyright holders. What is the best practice for describing an image when reading a text to someone who cannot see? These issues of documentation are part the exploration now under way. I will present several examples of approaches to addressing the problem as provocation for discussion

Septimus Smith Had to Die: An Examination of Virginia Woolf’s Frustration with the Mental Health System After WWI

In 1922, Virginia Woolf began writing Mrs. Dalloway as reports of shell shocked soldiers began coming out. Treatments were being created and doctors were putting those treatments into practice at the same time. Woolf was armed with her own experiences in the area of treatments for mental health and created Septimus Smith to display how wrong the contemporary treatments are for those struggling with their mental health. Septimus’ doctors, Dr. Holmes and Sir William Bradshaw, were examples of the way doctors ignored the trauma many patients were processing after coming back from the war. By creating these characters and having them use the current treatments on Septimus, it shed light on an area that was not previously addressed. Rezia’s compassion in the end, as well as Septimus’ eventual suicide, hammered home Woolf’s message that the current treatments and doctors are not what needs to be done for mental health patients

The Journey of a Beginning Researcher

As I embarked on the first major research project of my career as a researcher, I sought a clearly written article that would help me through some common obstacles in qualitative research. This article outlines those problems and offers some solutions from one researcher\u27s perspective. Some of the problems described and discussed include how to use theory and integrate it with data, the issues that arise from being a simultaneous researcher and participant, and how to represent participants with integrity and authenticity. This methodological piece offers suggestions for novice researchers as they embark on their own journeys as qualitative scientists

The nervus terminalis in the adult dog and cat

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49892/1/900230204_ftp.pd

Are Middle School Counseling Programs Meeting Early Adolescent Needs? A Survey of Principals and Counselors

This article explores the needs of middle school students in regards to how their school provides for their academic, career, personal, and social development. School counselors and administrators in the state of New Jersey completed an online survey that explored how well their programs attend to the needs of their students and the guidelines set forth by the American School Counselor Association. A discussion is provided which explores multiple aspects of the data. The authors explore the perceptions of respondents on their guidance program’s effect on students. The relationship between the counselor’s and administrator’s perceptions is also discussed