Firefox Extensions and Tools: Using iMacros and Zotero

This session will focus on two Firefox extensions and tools. Quinn will highlight iMacros which takes advantage of the macro concept and tabbed browsing capabilities and which can be used as an alternative to federated search and for performing repetitive tasks. Borkenhagen will discuss Zotero which allows users to capture bibliographic information about books, journal articles, and web pages while doing your research. Zotero will also allow you to organize these resources into folders and add notes about each item. During this session, participants will have an opportunity to download/create these Firefox add-ons and look at the ways in which librarians and library patrons can use them

Less is More: A Case Study of Consolidating Two Database A–Z Lists for Better Staff and User Experiences

This case study describes the consolidation and migration of the University of New Mexico’s University Libraries’ two database A–Z lists. A subject librarian led the nine-month project that included most subject librarians, the electronic resources team, the Director of Collections, and the Web & Discovery Librarian. The project also provided the University Libraries with the opportunity to review the resources on the lists, update descriptions, and create new workflows for adding and managing a single list

Autonomous power expert system

The goal of the Autonomous Power System (APS) program is to develop and apply intelligent problem solving and control technologies to the Space Station Freedom Electrical Power Systems (SSF/EPS). The objectives of the program are to establish artificial intelligence/expert system technology paths, to create knowledge based tools with advanced human-operator interfaces, and to integrate and interface knowledge-based and conventional control schemes. This program is being developed at the NASA-Lewis. The APS Brassboard represents a subset of a 20 KHz Space Station Power Management And Distribution (PMAD) testbed. A distributed control scheme is used to manage multiple levels of computers and switchgear. The brassboard is comprised of a set of intelligent switchgear used to effectively switch power from the sources to the loads. The Autonomous Power Expert System (APEX) portion of the APS program integrates a knowledge based fault diagnostic system, a power resource scheduler, and an interface to the APS Brassboard. The system includes knowledge bases for system diagnostics, fault detection and isolation, and recommended actions. The scheduler autonomously assigns start times to the attached loads based on temporal and power constraints. The scheduler is able to work in a near real time environment for both scheduling and dynamic replanning

An autonomous fault detection, isolation, and recovery system for a 20-kHz electric power distribution test bed

Future space explorations will require long term human presence in space. Space environments that provide working and living quarters for manned missions are becoming increasingly larger and more sophisticated. Monitor and control of the space environment subsystems by expert system software, which emulate human reasoning processes, could maintain the health of the subsystems and help reduce the human workload. The autonomous power expert (APEX) system was developed to emulate a human expert's reasoning processes used to diagnose fault conditions in the domain of space power distribution. APEX is a fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) system, capable of autonomous monitoring and control of the power distribution system. APEX consists of a knowledge base, a data base, an inference engine, and various support and interface software. APEX provides the user with an easy-to-use interactive interface. When a fault is detected, APEX will inform the user of the detection. The user can direct APEX to isolate the probable cause of the fault. Once a fault has been isolated, the user can ask APEX to justify its fault isolation and to recommend actions to correct the fault. APEX implementation and capabilities are discussed

Autonomous power system intelligent diagnosis and control

The Autonomous Power System (APS) project at NASA Lewis Research Center is designed to demonstrate the abilities of integrated intelligent diagnosis, control, and scheduling techniques to space power distribution hardware. Knowledge-based software provides a robust method of control for highly complex space-based power systems that conventional methods do not allow. The project consists of three elements: the Autonomous Power Expert System (APEX) for fault diagnosis and control, the Autonomous Intelligent Power Scheduler (AIPS) to determine system configuration, and power hardware (Brassboard) to simulate a space based power system. The operation of the Autonomous Power System as a whole is described and the responsibilities of the three elements - APEX, AIPS, and Brassboard - are characterized. A discussion of the methodologies used in each element is provided. Future plans are discussed for the growth of the Autonomous Power System

Causal Dependence Tree Approximations of Joint Distributions for Multiple Random Processes

We investigate approximating joint distributions of random processes with causal dependence tree distributions. Such distributions are particularly useful in providing parsimonious representation when there exists causal dynamics among processes. By extending the results by Chow and Liu on dependence tree approximations, we show that the best causal dependence tree approximation is the one which maximizes the sum of directed informations on its edges, where best is defined in terms of minimizing the KL-divergence between the original and the approximate distribution. Moreover, we describe a low-complexity algorithm to efficiently pick this approximate distribution.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figure

Executive MBA students\u27 information skills and knowledge

This study explores Executive MBA students information seeking skills and knowledge in academic and workplace environments in order to improve on library instruction. Our research consisted of a survey and 12 qualitative interviews, sampled from two University of New Mexico EMBA cohorts. The themes that emerged included: EMBA\u27s specific skills and knowledge of their own industry\u27s information, difficulty in finding new information, several barriers, and lack of transferability. By discussing adult learning theory and focusing on transferability, we can help students acknowledge and transfer their information skills and knowledge between academics and work.\u2

Strategic Adaptation of SCA for STRS

The Space Telecommunication Radio System (STRS) architecture is being developed to provide a standard framework for future NASA space radios with greater degrees of interoperability and flexibility to meet new mission requirements. The space environment imposes unique operational requirements with restrictive size, weight, and power constraints that are significantly smaller than terrestrial-based military communication systems. With the harsh radiation environment of space, the computing and processing resources are typically one or two generations behind current terrestrial technologies. Despite these differences, there are elements of the SCA that can be adapted to facilitate the design and implementation of the STRS architecture

Ligia Grischa: A successful Swiss colony on the Dakota Territory frontier

In 1877 a small group of Swiss immigrants from the Graubunden canton formed a cooperative with another Swiss group in Stillwater, Minnesota, to begin a colony in eastern South Dakota. These settlers founded the Badus Swiss colony on the open prairie in Lake County, Dakota Territory {later South Dakota}, based on cooperative rules written in Switzerland in 1424. This settlement was one of the last Swiss colonies created in the United States during the great nineteenth-century European migration, and one of the westernmost Swiss settlements in the United States. There were two major factors that contributed to the Badus Swiss colonists achieving their goals of individual self-sufficient family farms and assimilating into American society. First, cultural preadaptation {i.e., organizational bylaws} provided the colonists with the knowledge and skills in its formative years to create a colony. The history, organization, institutions, and artifacts of the Badus colony reveal cultural traits that were present in their home country. Second, its affiliation with a nearby Irish settlement hastened Swiss assimilation, compared to what it would have been had the Swiss remained an isolated group. Both immigrant groups were Roman Catholic, which facilitated a bond based on the common religion