Providing Access to Knowledge in Africa: the Need for Capacity Building in Classification, Indexing & Abstracting Skills

The realities of the present era of globalization and information and communication technologies (ICT) culminating in the African Virtual Library and Information Network (AVLIN) have made it expedient that African information professionals should be able to develop, showcase and make accessible African indigenous information to the knowledge world. This literature-based opinion paper has tried to identify with the view of the conference organizers that “Major digital initiatives involving African content are currently being undertaken by non-African organization without widely accepted protocols and agreement”. The paper argues that there is a serious need for a theoretical and policy framework necessary to provide a basis for systematic training of library and information science professionals to place African knowledge on a pedestal that will make it accessible to the world of knowledge. It was found that the library schools in most African universities are ill-equipped to train professionals to handle information in the new digital era. This is exacerbated by the fact that professional associations are not doing enough to retool the existing workforce for the task ahead. The paper recommends, among other things, that much emphasis should be placed on the training of cataloguers and indexers in African research institutions and universities to be able to organize African knowledge and produce information surrogates that will help researchers locate them on the internet

Institutional policy and management of institutional repositories in Nigerian universities

The development of institutional repositories in libraries has come as a blessing to universities in Africa. It is envisaged that it will solve problems of low visibility of African content on the World Wide Web (Internet), greater speed of dissemination of knowledge from Africa, increased citation for authors whose works are published in the repository and improved ranking for the universities amongst others. However, evidence from past studies has revealed some doubts about the effectiveness of institutional policies in facilitating the growth and development of academic projects in African universities. The study which is a conceptual one is designed to review the development of IR in Africa with emphasis on Nigerian environment, determine what should constitute an institutional policy, and situate this within the framework of conditions for registration of IR by DOAR and ROAR. The study noted that between June 2011 and December 2014 Africa has dropped from 4% to 3% of world registered IRs. In Nigeria the study pointed out that 106 of 129 registered universities have websites but only eight have registered IR and out of this number only one has policy in some aspects of the operation. It was recommended that government interventions are crucial in this regard as this would serve as watch dog in monitoring/ensuring strict adherence to the implementation of the projects

Comparing Segmentation by Time and by Motion in Visual Search: An fMRI Investigation

Abstract Brain activity was recorded while participants engaged in a difficult visual search task for a target defined by the spatial configuration of its component elements. The search displays were segmented by time (a preview then a search display), by motion, or were unsegmented. A preparatory network showed activity to the preview display, in the time but not in the motion segmentation condition. A region of the precuneus showed (i) higher activation when displays were segmented by time or by motion, and (ii) correlated activity with larger segmentation benefits behaviorally, regardless of the cue. Additionally, the results revealed that success in temporal segmentation was correlated with reduced activation in early visual areas, including V1. The results depict partially overlapping brain networks for segmentation in search by time and motion, with both cue-independent and cue-specific mechanisms.</jats:p

A model for predicting dissolved organic carbon distribution in a reservoir water using fluorescence spectroscopy

A number of water treatment works (WTW) in the north of England (UK) have experienced problems in reducing the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) present in the water to a sufficiently low level. The problems are experienced in autumn/ winter when the colour increases and the coagulant dose at the WTW needs to be increased in order to achieve sufficient colour removal. However, the DOC content of the water varies little throughout the year. To investigate this further, the water was fractionated using resin adsorption techniques into its hydrophobic (fulvic and humic acid fractions) and hydrophilic (acid and non-acid fractions) components. The fractionation process yields useful information on the changing concentration of each fraction but is time consuming and labour intensive. Here, a method of rapidly determining fraction concentration was developed using fluorescence spectroscopy. The model created used synchronous spectra of fractionated material compared against bulk water spectra and predicted the fraction concentrations to within 10% for a specific water. The model was unable to predict fraction concentrations for waters from a different watershed

Including Ethics in the Study of Educational Leadership

This article offers reasons why ethics should be included within leadership preparation and suggestions for infusing it in leadership education classes. The authors argue that a framework of making ethical decisions, overviews of codes of conduct, and examinations of case studies of ethical and unethical behaviors become intentional components of leadership education curricula

Closed Recirculating Seawater Systems for Holding Intermolt Blue Crabs: Literature Review, Systems Design and Construction

Three closed recirculating seawater systems designed for holding intermolt stage blue crabs are described and illustrated. Pertinent literature dealing with design criteria for closed systems is discussed. The biology of the blue crab is reviewed in relation to data required for design purposes. Cost and capacity of the systems are presented including provision for solar heating. Areas where future work is needed are identified.https://aquila.usm.edu/gcrl_publications/1010/thumbnail.jp

Transport and metabolism of symplastic and apoplastic ascorbate during oxidative stress

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced continuously in plants and act as important signalling molecules in many cellular processes including stress and defence responses. ROS can arise from external sources as well as being generated by the plant. Pollutants, such as ozone, enter the leaf via stomata and dissolve in the apoplast. ROS can arise both intracellularly and apoplastically: superoxide is produced during photosynthesis as well as by the plasma membrane bound NADPH oxidase during the oxidative burst. Under abiotic stresses such as drought or high light-intensity, superoxide production from photosynthetic electron flow is increased. Ascorbate plays a crucial role in symplastic and apoplastic ROS metabolism. Intracellular ascorbate metabolism is highly regulated; it is coupled to glutathione oxidation and reduction and is under tight enzymic control. Export of ascorbate into the apoplast increases during ozoneinduced stress. The apoplast redox state is considered to be more variable than the symplasm. Ascorbate is thought to be taken up from the apoplast in its oxidised form, DHA, via specific carriers, implying tight regulation of apoplastic/symplastic ascorbate transport. An apoplastic ascorbate breakdown pathway has recently been described by Green and Fry (2005). Ascorbate is oxidised and hydrolysed to yield oxalate via two novel intermediates, cyclic oxalyl L-threonate (cyc.ox.thr.) and 4-O-oxalyl-L-threonate (ox.thr.) A novel esterase is thought to catalyse the hydrolysis of ox.thr. to oxalate. Dehydro-L-ascorbate DHA was also hydrolysed to L-2,3-diketogulonate (DKG) which broke down to two unidentified compounds, C and E. It was not known whether this pathway operated intracellularly and how increased ROS production might affect flux through this pathway. The pathway, described, in the culture medium of 5-day-old rose cell suspension cultures but had not been investigated in planta. Intracellular and extracellular metabolism of [14C]ascorbate in [14C]ascorbate-loaded cells was investigated in response to oxidative stress induced by 0.1 and 1 mM H2O2 and 1 and 10 μM methyl viologen (MV2+). The symplasm became more oxidised in response to 0.1 mM H2O2; DHA levels increased and ascorbate decreased, but ox.thr. and oxalate, products of irreversible ascorbate breakdown, did not accumulate. Symplastic ox.thr. and oxalate accumulated in response to MV2+ and 1 mM H2O2. Ox.thr. and oxalate were observed in-planta. Flux through the pathway was increased in transgenic tobacco plants which overexpressed the cell wall-located enzyme ascorbate oxidase, suggesting that the redox state of the apoplast could increase apoplastic ascorbate breakdown via ox.thr. The rate of production of oxalate in vivo compared to in vitro studies suggested that the esterase was located to the symplasm as well as the apoplast. Oxalate did not appear to be metabolised further. Compounds C and E were neither observed in planta nor in 10-day old rose cell cultures. DKG and cyc.ox.thr. were present only in low levels. Export of 14C in [14C]ascorbate loaded cells increased in response to 1 and 5 mM H2O2. Increased export was characterised by a rapid response during the first 2 min of H2O2 exposure. In Arabidopsis and rose cell suspension cultures, export was often observed to occur in series of pulses. The amplitude of pulses increased within the first 2 min of H2O2 exposure. This was not thought to be a result of membrane disruption. 14C appeared to be exported as [14C]ascorbate and taken up as [14C]DHA, with minimal oxidation in the culture medium. These results provide more insight into intracellular ascorbate breakdown via ox.thr. and suggest that oxalate could accumulate in response to oxidative stress in plants. The export of ascorbate/DHA in pulses in response to H2O2 hints at novel mechanisms of regulation of ascorbate/DHA transport across the plasma membrane

Emotional and behavioural difficulties of children and young people at entry into care

Emotional and behavioural difficulties of a sample of children and young people were identified at the point of entry to local authority care by analysis of social work case files. The files indicated high levels of need, including that in children aged under 5. Bedwetting was identified as an important issue related to the physical health and emotional well-being of looked-after children. There was an association between bedwetting and emotional and behavioural problems. Analysis of placement types at entry to care showed that significantly more boys than girls were first placed in residential care