Information seeking in the Humanities: physicality and digitality

This paper presents a brief overview of a research project that is examining the information seeking practices of humanities scholars. The results of this project are being used to develop digital resources to better support these work activities. Initial findings from a recent set of interviews is offered, revealing the importance of physical artefacts in the humanities scholars’ research processes and the limitations of digital resources. Finally, further work that is soon to be undertaken is summarised, and it is hoped that after participation in this workshop these ideas will be refined

DIGESTIBILITY OF SELECTED FEED INGREDIENTS FOR TIGER GROUPER, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus

The apparent digestibility (AD) of eight feed ingredients are widely available in Indonesia was determined. In each of two 5x5 latin-square experimental, tiger grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatus juveniles (100—150 g) were fed a reference diet and four test diets in accordance with the latin-square design. Test feed ingredients were substituted at rates of 40% for animal meals or 30% for plant meals. Chromic oxide was used as the digestibility marker. In determining the ingredient AD, the substitution ratio was calculated as the proportion of the nutrient (or energy) contributed by the test ingredient on an ‘as-is’ basis. Digestibility tanks were steeply slope 200 L cylindroconical tanks with a bottom outlet to facilitate faecal collection, which was carried out at 3-hourly intervals throughout the day. Each collection period took 5—7 days with a similar acclimatization time between diets. A combined ANOVA of the data for both experimental showed no difference (P>0.05) in the AD’s for each reference diets. Thus for comparative purpose, the derived AD’s of the test ingredients were analysed as a single ANOVA. The digestibility of animal meals was generally high(>59% for dry matter, >83% for protein, >65% for lipid, and >70 for gross energy) while that of plant meals was slow (<53% for dry matter, <53% for protein, <66% for lipid, and <46% for gross energy). This information will enable grow-out feeds for tiger grouper to be formulated on a least-cost digestible nutrient basis

Organic Geochemical and Petrographic Analysis of Pure Macerals from the Ohio Shale

Recent advances now permit the separation of coal into constituent macerals of high purity using density gradient centrifugation (DGC). With the availability of pure macerals, the chemical structure of each can be investigated separately, without the interactive interference of the other macerals or mineral matter. The present study is a preliminary effort applying these methods to the study of oil shale kerogen. We have used a sample from the Huron Member of the Upper Devonian Ohio Shale from Logan County, Ohio. Whole rock petrographic examination revealed intact Tasmanites, telalginite of unknown derivation and a weakly fluorescing matrix. Pyrite is abundant, including framboidal and euhedral pyrite imbedded within macerals. The kerogen concentrate was subjected to DGC. The resulting profile shows a single, broad main peak, consisting of mixed telaginite, amorphinite and rare vitrinite. Variable amounts of entrapped minerals apparently account for the broad range of density within the peak, with the organic assemblage being fairly consistent. In future work, it is recommended that the kerogen be micronized prior to DOC to permit a cleaner separation. In order to investigate the chemistry of macerals, pyrolysis is preferred over simple extraction, since soluble native bitumen is mobile and may migrate from the maceral of origin into a neighboring one, acting as a natural contaminant. Pyrolysis techniques assure that the data reflect the nature of indigenous material only. The Ohio Shale kerogen and 4 DGC fractions were subjected to micro-scale, anhydrous, in vitro pyrolysis, followed by GCMS of the saturate and aromatic LC fractions of the pyrolyzate. The 4 DGC fractions are nearly identical in both their saturate and aromatic molecular distributions, consistent with the petrographic observations. To further demonstrate the efficacy of the method, a pure sporinite isolated from a coal in the Pennsylvanian Brazil Formation of Indiana was also analyzed. The sporinite pyrolyzate can readily be distinguished from that of the Ohio Shale alginite by the distributions of n-alkanes, isoprenoids, phyllocladane derivatives, extended tricyclic terpanes, hopanes, moretanes, steranes, alkylbenzenes and thiophene derivatives. Py-LC-GCMS is an effective and versatile characterization tool, as it provides a great number of molecular parameters

Evidence for quantum confinement in the photoluminescence of porous Si and SiGe

We have used anodization techniques to process porous surface regions in p-type Czochralski Si and in p-type Si0.85Ge0.15 epitaxial layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The SiGe layers were unrelaxed before processing. We have observed strong near-infrared and visible light emission from both systems. Analysis of the radiative and nonradiative recombination processes indicate that the emission is consistent with the decay of excitons localized in structures of one or zero dimensions

An examination of the physical and the digital qualities of humanities research

Traditionally humanities scholars have worked in physical environments and with physical artefacts. Libraries are familiar places, built on cultural traditions over thousands of years, and books are comfortable research companions. Digital tools are a more recent addition to the resources available to a researcher. This paper explores both the physical and the digital qualities of modern humanities research, drawing on existing literature and presenting a study of humanities scholars’ perceptions of the research resources they use. We highlight aspects of the physical and digital that can facilitate or hinder the researcher, focusing on three themes that emerge from the data: the working environment; the experience of finding resources; and the experience of working with documents. Rather than aiming to replace physical texts and libraries by digital surrogates, providers need to recognise the complementary roles they play: digital information environments have the potential to provide improved access and analysis features and the facility to exploit the library from any place, while the physical library and resources provide greater authenticity, trustworthiness and the demand to be in a particular place with important material properties

Cognitive economy and satisficing in information seeking: A longitudinal study of undergraduate information behavior

This article reports on a longitudinal study of information seeking by undergraduate information management students. It describes how they found and used information, and explores their motivation and decision making. We employed a use-in-context approach where students were observed conducting, and were interviewed about, information-seeking tasks carried out during their academic work. We found that participants were reluctant to engage with a complex range of information sources, preferring to use the Internet. The main driver for progress in information seeking was the immediate demands of their work (e.g., assignments). Students used their growing expertise to justify a conservative information strategy, retaining established strategies as far as possible and completing tasks with minimum information-seeking effort. The time cost of using library material limited the uptake of such resources. New methods for discovering and selecting information were adopted only when immediately relevant to the task at hand, and tasks were generally chosen or interpreted in ways that minimized the need to develop new strategies. Students were driven by the demands of the task to use different types of information resources, but remained reluctant to move beyond keyword searches, even when they proved ineffective. They also lacked confidence in evaluating the relative usefulness of resources. Whereas existing literature on satisficing has focused on stopping conditions, this work has highlighted a richer repertoire of satisficing behaviors

A library or just another information resource? A case study of users' mental models of traditional and digital libraries

A user's understanding of the libraries they work in, and hence of what they can do in those libraries, is encapsulated in their “mental models” of those libraries. In this article, we present a focused case study of users' mental models of traditional and digital libraries based on observations and interviews with eight participants. It was found that a poor understanding of access restrictions led to risk-averse behavior, whereas a poor understanding of search algorithms and relevance ranking resulted in trial-and-error behavior. This highlights the importance of rich feedback in helping users to construct useful mental models. Although the use of concrete analogies for digital libraries was not widespread, participants used their knowledge of Internet search engines to infer how searching might work in digital libraries. Indeed, most participants did not clearly distinguish between different kinds of digital resource, viewing the electronic library catalogue, abstracting services, digital libraries, and Internet search engines as variants on a theme

Using an arts-based design to explore the experience of shared reading: a pilot study

This pilot study explores the use of an art-based design to record the experience of a Shared Reading workshop. There is considerable evidence of the effectiveness of Shared Reading as a support for well-being across a wide range of situations and settings and studies have suggested that this literature-based intervention may have the potential to supports both thinking and feeling. However, describing the personal and emotional responses that provoke the impact of Shared Reading is a challenge. The capture of the discussion occurring during this pilot workshop is made visual using both words and pictures, and this ‘capture’ is then synthesised and an evocation is created using the medium of film. This paper discusses the process and the effectiveness of this arts-based approach as evidenced during data collection, in interpretation and again in dissemination, and implications for further use of this methodology are explored

A spectral survey of an ultra-hot Jupiter: Detection of metals in the transmission spectrum of KELT-9 b

Context: KELT-9 b exemplifies a newly emerging class of short-period gaseous exoplanets that tend to orbit hot, early type stars - termed ultra-hot Jupiters. The severe stellar irradiation heats their atmospheres to temperatures of $\sim 4,000$ K, similar to the photospheres of dwarf stars. Due to the absence of aerosols and complex molecular chemistry at such temperatures, these planets offer the potential of detailed chemical characterisation through transit and day-side spectroscopy. Studies of their chemical inventories may provide crucial constraints on their formation process and evolution history. Aims: To search the optical transmission spectrum of KELT-9 b for absorption lines by metals using the cross-correlation technique. Methods: We analyse 2 transits observed with the HARPS-N spectrograph. We use an isothermal equilibrium chemistry model to predict the transmission spectrum for each of the neutral and singly-ionized atoms with atomic numbers between 3 and 78. Of these, we identify the elements that are expected to have spectral lines in the visible wavelength range and use those as cross-correlation templates. Results: We detect absorption of Na I, Cr II, Sc II and Y II, and confirm previous detections of Mg I, Fe I, Fe II and Ti II. In addition, we find evidence of Ca I, Cr I, Co I, and Sr II that will require further observations to verify. The detected absorption lines are significantly deeper than model predictions, suggesting that material is transported to higher altitudes where the density is enhanced compared to a hydrostatic profile. There appears to be no significant blue-shift of the absorption spectrum due to a net day-to-night side wind. In particular, the strong Fe II feature is shifted by $0.18 \pm 0.27$ km~s$^{-1}$, consistent with zero. Using the orbital velocity of the planet we revise the steller and planetary masses and radii.Comment: Submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics on January 18, 2019. Accepted on May 3, 2019. 26 pages, 11 figure