Rediscover Discovery: Evaluating Web‐Scale Discovery Platforms

This presentation was given at the Electronic Resources in Libraries Conference held in Austin, TX on March 19, 2013.In 2012, the University of Houston Libraries conducted an extensive evaluation process of the major library web-scale discovery platforms in the marketplace. The methodology included evaluation of vendor demonstrations, selection of uniform and targeted questions for vendor responses, development of a ranking and weighting formula for vendor responses, and analysis. A major effort was initiated to collect feedback from public services librarians including a survey of impressions about the current/existing discovery platform, and an open forum discussion with a survey for thoughts on next steps. As part of the process a one day library discovery platform conference was held with a keynote speaker, panel discussions, vendor demonstrations, and round table discussions. Data collected from all of these activities was analyzed and key findings were categorized for decision-making. A statement of findings was prepared for each vendor under consideration. This project was undertaken consortially to streamline and centralize the data gathering effort and to maximize input and feedback from representative institutions. Each institution was able to draw information from the same data pool, but was free to customize findings for their own decision-making. This presentation outlines the evaluation process and findings that will greatly enhance the participant's knowledge of web-scale discovery platforms. The methodology developed can be repurposed and reused for efficient evaluation of discovery platforms at other institutions.Librarie

Elevated salivary C-reactive protein levels are associated with active and passive smoking in healthy youth: A pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We examined <it>salivary </it>C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in the context of tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) in healthy youth. We hypothesized that there would be a dose-response relationship between TSE status and salivary CRP levels.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This work is a pilot study (N = 45) for a larger investigation in which we aim to validate <it>salivary </it>CRP against serum CRP, the gold standard measurement of low-grade inflammation. Participants were healthy youth with no self-reported periodontal disease, no objectively measured obesity/adiposity, and no clinical depression, based on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). We assessed tobacco smoking and confirmed smoking status (non-smoking, passive smoking, and active smoking) with salivary cotinine measurement. We measured salivary CRP by the ELISA method. We controlled for several potential confounders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found evidence for the existence of a dose-response relationship between the TSE status and salivary CRP levels.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our preliminary findings indicate that salivary CRP seems to have a similar relation to TSE as its widely used serum (systemic inflammatory) biomarker counterpart.</p

La discrimination génétique et l’assurance-vie : les mesures de protection actuelles suffisent-elles?

"De plus en plus, la recherche en génétique s'attarde à identifier les mutations de gènes qui prédisposent les porteurs de ces mutations à des maladies complexes. La recherche tente également d'établir un lien entre le développement de la maladie pour certains porteurs en fonction de leur contexte socio-économique et de leur interaction avec l'environnement. Compte tenu de ces nombreux facteurs d'analyse, l'interprétation des caractéristiques génétiques d'un individu et du risque qui en découle s'avère particulièrement complexe. Or, cette complexité croissante se produit alors même que l'accès aux données génétiques se banalise et qu'il est maintenant possible pour quiconque d'obtenir une analyse personnalisée de son génome via l'internet. La discrimination génétique n'est pas définie en droit canadien ; il est généralement acquis que, dans le contexte de l'assurance-vie, celle-ci est susceptible d'avoir des conséquences désastreuses. Cependant, nous ne croyons pas que l'information d'ordre génétique doive être l'objet d'une approche exceptionnelle causant accrocs au droit général des assurances. D'autant plus, les conséquences du risque de discrimination génétique semblent davantage relevées de la crainte que de l'exercice d'une discrimination réelle. Dans ce contexte, il s'avère nécessaire d'évaluer les mesures de protection contre la discrimination génétique dans le contexte de l'assurance-vie. Pour ce faire, nous abordons, d'une part, les normes d'application générale en matière de protection contre la discrimination; normes parmi lesquelles la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne offre une protection intéressante. D'autre part, nous nous intéressons aux normes visant la discrimination spécifiquement génétique, notamment le nouvel Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act et l'affaire Audet c. Industrielle-Alliance. Enfin, nous proposons des mesures minimales qui sauraient s'avérer utile pour préserver un juste équilibre.

Synthetic Eurocurrency Interest Rate Futures Contracts: Theory and Evidence

In this paper, we develop a theoretical (arbitrage) pricing model for a Eurocurrency interest rate futures contract and measure its hedging effectiveness. This synthetic Eurocurrency interest rate futures contract is obtained by combining exisiting Eurodollar interest rate futures contracts with near term and far term currency futures contracts based on the covered interest rate parity relationship. In theory, the cash flows of the synthetic contract perfectly replicate the cash flows of a Eurocurrency interest rate futures contract. Our empirical results show that the synthetic contracts are relatively efficient in hedging non-dollar borrowing rates. These results have implications for the practice of hedging non-dollar interest rate risk and for the development of actual Eurocurrency interest rate futures markets.

L’allégorie de la femme-enfant alias Gisèle Prassinos comme aporie de genre dans le surréalisme

Le lien organique entre écriture automatique, l’objectif subversif du surréalisme et la figure de la femme-enfant produit une contradiction révélée par la photographie de Man Ray de la rencontre de 1934 entre le groupe d’André Breton et « Alice II », comme ils nommaient la jeune poétesse Gisèle Prassinos. Une telle appellation mythologique, bien qu’elle découle de l’approche objective moderne du monde, ne perturbe en rien la structure analogique traditionnelle des identités sexuées et empêche le « Point Sublime » d’évoluer au-delà de l’opposition masculin / féminin qui se trouve à la base de la pensée binaire.The organic link between automatic writing, surrealism’s subversive objective and the femme-enfant figure, produces a contradiction revealed by Man Ray’s photograph of the 1934 encounter between André Breton’s group and “Alice II,” as they named the young poetess Gisèle Prassinos. Such a mythological appellation, although proceeding from the modern objective approach to the world, in no way disrupts the traditional analogic structure of gendered identities and prevents the “Sublime Point” from evolving beyond the masculine/feminine opposition at the basis of binary thought