Equal partners? Improving the integration between DSpace and Symplectic Elements

While self-submission by academics was regarded as the ideal way to add content to Open Repositories in the early days of such systems, the reality today is that many institutional repositories obtain their content automatically from integration with research management systems. The institutional DSpace repositories at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and at the University of Waikato (UoW) were integrated with Symplectic Elements in 2010 (AUT) and in 2014 (UoW). Initial experiences at AUT suggested a mismatch between the interaction options offered to users of Symplectic Elements on one hand and the actions available to repository managers via the DSpace review workflow functionality on the other hand. Our presentation explores these mismatches and their negative effects on the repository as well as on the user experience. We then present the changes we made to the DSpace review workflow to improve the integration. We hope that our experiences will contribute to an improvement in the integration between repository software and research management systems

Sequence-Based Mapping and Genome Editing Reveal Mutations in Stickleback Hps5 Cause Oculocutaneous Albinism and the casper Phenotype.

Here, we present and characterize the spontaneous X-linked recessive mutation casper, which causes oculocutaneous albinism in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). In humans, Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome results in pigmentation defects due to disrupted formation of the melanin-containing lysosomal-related organelle (LRO), the melanosome. casper mutants display not only reduced pigmentation of melanosomes in melanophores, but also reductions in the iridescent silver color from iridophores, while the yellow pigmentation from xanthophores appears unaffected. We mapped casper using high-throughput sequencing of genomic DNA from bulked casper mutants to a region of the stickleback X chromosome (chromosome 19) near the stickleback ortholog of Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome 5 (Hps5). casper mutants have an insertion of a single nucleotide in the sixth exon of Hps5, predicted to generate an early frameshift. Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 induced lesions in Hps5 and phenocopied the casper mutation. Injecting single or paired Hps5 guide RNAs revealed higher incidences of genomic deletions from paired guide RNAs compared to single gRNAs. Stickleback Hps5 provides a genetic system where a hemizygous locus in XY males and a diploid locus in XX females can be used to generate an easily scored visible phenotype, facilitating quantitative studies of different genome editing approaches. Lastly, we show the ability to better visualize patterns of fluorescent transgenic reporters in Hps5 mutant fish. Thus, Hps5 mutations present an opportunity to study pigmented LROs in the emerging stickleback model system, as well as a tool to aid in assaying genome editing and visualizing enhancer activity in transgenic fish

Eco-hydrology of dynamic wetlands in an Australian agricultural landscape: a whole of system approach for understanding climate change impacts

Increasing rates of water extraction and regulation of hydrologic processes, coupled with destruction of natural vegetation, pollution and climate change, are jeopardizing the future persistence of wetlands and the ecological and socio-economic functions they support. Globally, it is estimated that 50% of wetlands have been lost since the 1900’s, with agricultural changes being the main cause. In some agricultural areas of Australia, losses as high as 98% have occurred. Wetlands remaining in agricultural landscapes suffer degradation and their resilience and ability to continue functioning under hydrologic and land use changes resulting from climate change may be significantly inhibited. However, information on floodplain wetlands is sparse and knowledge of how ecological functioning and resilience may change under future land use intensification and climate change is lacking in many landscapes. These knowledge gaps pose significant problems for the future sustainable management of biodiversity and agricultural activities which rely on the important services supplied by wetland ecosystems. This research evaluates the impact that hydrology and land use has on the perennial vegetation associated with wetlands in an agricultural landscape, the Condamine Catchment of southeast Queensland, Australia. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to measure hydrological and land use variables and a bayesian modeling averaging approach was used to generate generalised linear models for vegetation response variables. Connectivity with the river and hydrological variability had consistently significant positive relationships with vegetation cover and abundance. Land use practices such as, irrigated agriculture and grazing had consistently significant negative impacts. Consequently, to understand how climate change will impact on the ecohydrological functioning of wetlands, both hydrological and land use changes need to be considered. Results from this research will now be used to investigate how resilient these systems will be to different potential scenarios of climate change

Semigroups for which every right congruence of finite index is finitely generated

The author would like to thank his supervisor, Professor Nik Ruškuc, for his advice and guidance during the writing of this paper, and EPSRC for financial support.We call a semigroup S f-noetherian if every right congruence of finite index on S is finitely generated. We prove that every finitely generated semigroup is f-noetherian, and investigate whether the properties of being f-noetherian and being finitely generated coincide for various semigroup classes.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Ascending chain conditions on right ideals of semigroups

We call a semigroup $S$ right noetherian if it satisfies the ascending chain condition on right ideals, and we say that $S$ satisfies ACCPR if it satisfies the ascending chain condition on principal right ideals. We investigate the behavior of these two conditions with respect to ideals and ideal extensions, with a particular focus on minimal and 0-minimal one-sided ideals. In particular, we show that the property of satisfying ACCPR is inherited by right and left ideals. On the other hand, we exhibit an example of a right noetherian semigroup with a minimal ideal that is not right noetherian

Metonymy and Student Programming Errors

The common occurrence of metonymy in everyday language is considered as a negative bias towards successfully learning to state the correct referent when learning to program. Reported errors from previous studies are surveyed and the analysis reveals a pattern consistent with the use of metonymy, a rhetorical device where the speaker states a referent that is structurally related to the intended referent. This analysis suggests an underlying cause for a class of programming errors and provides directions for further research and instructional interventions

The Library Consortium of New Zealand's Shared IRR Infrastructure

The Library Consortium of New Zealand has run an Institutional Research Repository Project for three universities and one institute of technology in New Zealand since 2006. After a brief introduction to the context in which the project operates, this document describes the Institutional Research Repositories that are part of this project and their shared infrastructure. Particular emphasis is placed on advantages and challenges created by the shared infrastructure