Damage Function for Historic Paper: Part II

Background As a result of use of library and archival documents, defined as reading with handling in the context of general access, mechanical degradation (wear and tear) accumulates. In contrast to chemical degradation of paper, the accumulation of wear and tear is less well studied. Previous work explored the threshold of mechanical degradation at which a paper document is no longer considered to be fit for the purpose of use by a reader, while in this paper we explore the rate of accumulation of such damage in the context of object handling. Results The degree of polymerisation (DP) of historic paper of European origin from mid-19th–mid-20th Century was shown to affect the rate of accumulation of wear and tear. While at DP > 800, this accumulation no longer depends on the number of handlings (the process is random), a wear-out function could be developed for documents with DP between 300 and 800. For objects with DP < 300, one large missing piece (i.e. such that contains text) developed on average with each instance of handling, which is why we propose this DP value as a threshold value for safe handling. Conclusions The developed model of accumulation of large missing pieces per number of handlings of a document depending on DP, enables us to calculate the time required for an object to become unfit for use by readers in the context of general access. In the context of the average frequency of document use at The UK National Archives (Kew), this period is 60 years for the category of papers with DP 300, and 450 years for papers with DP 500. At higher DP values, this period of time increases beyond the long-term planning horizon of 500 years, leading to the conclusion that for such papers, accumulation of wear and tear is not a significant collection management concern

Rice-Map: a new-generation rice genome browser

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The concurrent release of rice genome sequences for two subspecies (<it>Oryza sativa </it>L. ssp. <it>japonica </it>and <it>Oryza sativa </it>L. ssp. <it>indica</it>) facilitates rice studies at the whole genome level. Since the advent of high-throughput analysis, huge amounts of functional genomics data have been delivered rapidly, making an integrated online genome browser indispensable for scientists to visualize and analyze these data. Based on next-generation web technologies and high-throughput experimental data, we have developed Rice-Map, a novel genome browser for researchers to navigate, analyze and annotate rice genome interactively.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>More than one hundred annotation tracks (81 for <it>japonica </it>and 82 for <it>indica</it>) have been compiled and loaded into Rice-Map. These pre-computed annotations cover gene models, transcript evidences, expression profiling, epigenetic modifications, inter-species and intra-species homologies, genetic markers and other genomic features. In addition to these pre-computed tracks, registered users can interactively add comments and research notes to Rice-Map as User-Defined Annotation entries. By smoothly scrolling, dragging and zooming, users can browse various genomic features simultaneously at multiple scales. On-the-fly analysis for selected entries could be performed through dedicated bioinformatic analysis platforms such as WebLab and Galaxy. Furthermore, a BioMart-powered data warehouse "Rice Mart" is offered for advanced users to fetch bulk datasets based on complex criteria.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Rice-Map delivers abundant up-to-date <it>japonica </it>and <it>indica </it>annotations, providing a valuable resource for both computational and bench biologists. Rice-Map is publicly accessible at <url>http://www.ricemap.org/</url>, with all data available for free downloading.</p

User Preferences on Cloud Computing and Open Innovation: A Case Study for University Employees in Greece

Cloud computing hastens technology driven innovation by taking advantage of the speed, the cost-effectiveness, the efficiency and the security that such applications offer. By using cloud computing, public organizations can exploit the economies of scale and innovate both efficiency and rapidly. The present study focuses on the factors influencing the adoption of a new technological application within the procedures of change management. It examines the willingness to adopt cloud computing for the case of administrative employees in a higher education institute working environment. A prediction model explores a Ubiquitous cloud computing adoption system (USAS), utilizing the theory of technology acceptance model (TAM) and resulting that end users are welcoming the adoption of the cloud computing. Policy makers should move towards empowering the stakeholders with e-skills to stimulate technology driven innovation, resulting in improvements in effectiveness and efficiency, in the creation of new jobs and in the promotion of sustainable development practices

User Preferences on Cloud Computing and Open Innovation: A Case Study for University Employees in Greece

Cloud computing hastens technology driven innovation by taking advantage of the speed, the cost-effectiveness, the efficiency and the security that such applications offer. By using cloud computing, public organizations can exploit the economies of scale and innovate both efficiency and rapidly. The present study focuses on the factors influencing the adoption of a new technological application within the procedures of change management. It examines the willingness to adopt cloud computing for the case of administrative employees in a higher education institute working environment. A prediction model explores a Ubiquitous cloud computing adoption system (USAS), utilizing the theory of technology acceptance model (TAM) and resulting that end users are welcoming the adoption of the cloud computing. Policy makers should move towards empowering the stakeholders with e-skills to stimulate technology driven innovation, resulting in improvements in effectiveness and efficiency, in the creation of new jobs and in the promotion of sustainable development practices

Continuous integration for web-based software infrastructures: lessons learned on the webinos project

Testing web-based software infrastructures is challenging. The need to interact with different services running on different devices, with different expectations for security and privacy contributes not only to the complexity of the infrastructure, but also to the approaches necessary to test it. Moreover, as large-scale systems, such infrastructures may be developed by distributed teams simultaneously making changes to APIs and critical components that implement them. In this paper, we describe our experiences testing one such infrastructure – the webinos software platform – and the lessons learned tackling the challenges faced. While ultimately these challenges were impossible to overcome, this paper explores the techniques that worked most effectively and makes recommendations for developers and teams in similar situations. In particular, our experiences with continuous integration and automated testing processes are described and analysed