What Are They Doing Anyway?: Library as Place and Student Use of a University Library

Objective - To determine student use of library spaces, the authors recorded student location and behaviors within the Library, to inform future space design. Methods - The case study method was used with both quantitative and qualitative measures. The authors had two objectives to guide this assessment of library spaces: 1) To determine what library spaces are being used by students and whether students are working individually, communally, or collaboratively and 2) To determine whether students use these spaces for learning activities and/or social engagement. Results - After data collection and analysis, the authors determined students are using individual or communal spaces almost equally as compared with collaborative group spaces. Data also revealed peak area usage and times. Conclusion - Observed student individual and social work habits indicate further need for spaces with ample electrical outlets and moveable tables. Further study is recommended to see whether additional seating and renovated spaces continue to enhance informal learning communities at URI and whether the Library is becoming a “third place” on campus

Global optimization for accurate determination of EBSD pattern centers

Accurate pattern center determination has long been a challenge for the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) community and is becoming critically accuracy-limiting for more recent advanced EBSD techniques. Here, we study the parameter landscape over which a pattern center must be fitted in quantitative detail and reveal that it is both sloppy and noisy, which limits the accuracy to which pattern centers can be determined. To locate the global optimum in this challenging landscape, we propose a combination of two approaches: the use of a global search algorithm and averaging the results from multiple patterns. We demonstrate the ability to accurately determine pattern centers of simulated patterns, inclusive of effects of binning and noise on the error of the fitted pattern center. We also demonstrate the ability of this method to accurately detect changes in pattern center in an experimental dataset with noisy and highly binned patterns. Source code for our pattern center fitting algorithm is available online

Bats of Barbados

The chiropteran fauna of Barbados includes representatives of four families — Noctilionidae, Phyllostomidae, Vespertilionidae, and Molossidae — including 1 piscivore (Noctilio leporinus), 1 omnivore (Brachyphylla cavernarum), 1 pollenivore/nectarivore (Monophyllus plethodon), 1 frugivore (Artibeus jamaicensis), and 2 insectivorous species (Myotis nyctor and Molossus molossus). Despite an early report, we believe that preponderance of the evidence available at this time is that E. fuscus is not part of the fauna of Barbados. The Barbadian chiropteran fauna of 6 species is much smaller than those on the four neighboring Lesser Antillean islands to the west and north. We believe that this is primarily the result of two factors—geological age and geographic isolation. Our work indicates that populations of the 6 species of bats on Barbados are in good condition in all cases, but only for Artibeus jamaicensis and Molossus molossus are the populations large enough to not be of ongoing concern. The maintenance of the chiropteran fauna can best be served by three management actions — preservation of caves and associated gullies, forests, and hydrological systems

Bats of Barbados

The chiropteran fauna of Barbados includes representatives of four families — Noctilionidae, Phyllostomidae, Vespertilionidae, and Molossidae — including 1 piscivore (Noctilio leporinus), 1 omnivore (Brachyphylla cavernarum), 1 pollenivore/nectarivore (Monophyllus plethodon), 1 frugivore (Artibeus jamaicensis), and 2 insectivorous species (Myotis nyctor and Molossus molossus). Despite an early report, we believe that preponderance of the evidence available at this time is that E. fuscus is not part of the fauna of Barbados. The Barbadian chiropteran fauna of 6 species is much smaller than those on the four neighboring Lesser Antillean islands to the west and north. We believe that this is primarily the result of two factors—geological age and geographic isolation. Our work indicates that populations of the 6 species of bats on Barbados are in good condition in all cases, but only for Artibeus jamaicensis and Molossus molossus are the populations large enough to not be of ongoing concern. The maintenance of the chiropteran fauna can best be served by three management actions — preservation of caves and associated gullies, forests, and hydrological systems

Supertubes versus superconducting tubes

In this paper we show the relationship between cylindrical D2-branes and cylindrical superconducting membranes described by a generic effective action at the bosonic level. In the first case the extended objects considered, arose as blown up type IIA superstrings to D2-branes, named supertubes. In the second one, the cosmological objects arose from some sort of field theories. The Dirac-Born-Infeld action describing supertubes is shown to be equivalent to the generic effective action describing superconducting membranes via a special transformation.Comment: Version with minor text changes with respect to the already publishe

Does virulence assessment of Vibrio anguillarum using sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) larvae correspond with genotypic and phenotypic characterization?

Background: Vibriosis is one of the most ubiquitous fish diseases caused by bacteria belonging to the genus Vibrio such as Vibrio (Listonella) anguillarum. Despite a lot of research efforts, the virulence factors and mechanism of V. anguillarum are still insufficiently known, in part because of the lack of standardized virulence assays. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated and compared the virulence of 15 V. anguillarum strains obtained from different hosts or non-host niches using a standardized gnotobiotic bioassay with European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) larvae as model hosts. In addition, to assess potential relationships between virulence and genotypic and phenotypic characteristics, the strains were characterized by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR (rep-PCR) analyses, as well as by phenotypic analyses using Biolog's Phenotype MicroArray (TM) technology and some virulence factor assays. Conclusions/Significance: Virulence testing revealed ten virulent and five avirulent strains. While some relation could be established between serotype, genotype and phenotype, no relation was found between virulence and genotypic or phenotypic characteristics, illustrating the complexity of V. anguillarum virulence. Moreover, the standardized gnotobiotic system used in this study has proven its strength as a model to assess and compare the virulence of different V. anguillarum strains in vivo. In this way, the bioassay contributes to the study of mechanisms underlying virulence in V. anguillarum