Authority Work as Outreach

Authority control in libraries has always been a collaborative effort, but that collaboration has usually been among librarians. Librarians have considered themselves the experts on forming data strings that hewed to an exacting set of standards opaque to all but a small number of gatekeepers who have been through NACO training. In the process of creating personal name authority records, NACO participants usually do not attempt to contact people for whom authorized names are being established, even when the person is known to be alive and contact information is readily available. The exception is when additional information (such as year of birth or middle initial) is needed to differentiate that person from others with the same name. Sending such a query to a creator requires providing a basic explanation of authority control, so NACO participants often develop scripts or templates for this purpose. This chapter looks at existing practices of contacting creators and the outcomes of these practices, and argues that attempting to consult with individuals about their authorized name and data in their authority record should become a standard part of the name authority control process for personal names. The chapter goes on to explore contacting creators not only as a way to ensure the authenticity of the data in the authority file, but as a rare opportunity to highlight the efforts of technical services librarians. The act of explaining authority control principles and asking for creators’ assistance in ensuring accurate information should be viewed as outreach, demonstrating how the work of libraries benefits creators by representing them accurately and facilitating access to their work. Regarding authority work as a collaborative partnership, both in advocacy to creators and managing their identity along with them, will reframe our practice as one of a truly collective process. Approaching personal name authority work as a partnership in which libraries collaborate with creators to promote and implement sound identity management practices will help to us address one of the main ethical questions in name authority control

An Online Learning Approach to Community Building among Asian Journalists

This chapter describes a master\u27s program in journalism designed for professional Asian journalists which has drawn students from 13 Asian countries and is run by faculty members from five countries. The program uses blended learning methods combining synchronous, asynchronous, and classroom-based approaches. An exploratory study was conducted to describe the strategies used by the students and teachers to build a community of learners (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) and hence achieve the program\u27s learning goals. The study took into consideration cultural differences, in particular, those referring to educational experiences. Results show that the respondents tended to use the strategies of social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence that were appropriate to their respective class roles and that these strategies tended to reflect dominant cultural traits in Asia

Cardiorespiratory and Metabolic Responses to Low-Intensity Blood-Flow Restricted Running

Low-intensity (LI) aerobic exercise with blood-flow restriction (BFR) increases heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (VO2), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), sometimes to similar levels as high-intensity (HI) exercise. Distance runners may benefit from LI-BFR running in periods of reduced volume or intensity, possibly due to injury. PURPOSE: To compare HR, VO2, blood lactate (BLa), and RPE during LI-BFR running and HI running without BFR. METHODS: Fifteen female distance runners (age 23+4yrs, height 1.67+0.50m, body mass 57.6+5.7kg, VO2max 51.0+4.5mL•kg-1•min-1) completed three randomized 12-minute running conditions: LI control (40% VO2max), HI (80% VO2max), and LI-BFR (40% VO2max). VO2, HR, and RPE were measured at rest, and every 3-minutes. BLa was measured at rest, immediately-post (ImmPost), and 3-minutes post-exercise (3minPost). RESULTS: VO2 remained steady among each condition (p=0.075,ηp2=0.155). The average VO2 differed between the conditions (p\u3c0.001), as HI (39.4+3.9mL•kg-1•min-1) \u3e LI-BFR (25.3+2.6mL•kg-1•min-1) \u3e LI (22.5+3.1mL•kg-1•min-1). HR increased at the onset of exercise and differed between the conditions (p\u3c0.001,ηp2=0.745). The average HR for HI, LI-BFR, and LI were 166+8bpm, 142+13bpm, and 124+11bpm, respectively. BLa was similar in HI and LI-BFR ImmPost and 3minPost (p\u3e0.05), and both were higher than LI (p\u3c0.017). Average RPE in the HI and LI-BFR conditions were similar (p=0.236). CONCLUSION: HI elicits greater VO2 and HR responses than LI-BFR running, suggesting that HI would result in more robust long-term training responses. However, if one cannot engage in HI running because of injury and rehabilitation, LI-BFR running could be a feasible temporary alternative

Research Notes : India : Mutation breeding research in soybean in India

Systematic mutation breeding research in India was started at Ranchi Agricultural College, Kanke, Bihar, India, around 1971 by Haque and his co-workers. Choudhary (1972) studied induced polygenic variability in the R-II generation in the variety of \u27Sepaya Black\u27 of soybean. Choudhary (1972) reported that 10 Kr radiation treatment of gamma rays was effective in shifting the mean values in positive direction for various quantitative characters including seed yield

IRAN’S NUCLEAR POLICY: NATURE, AMBITION, AND STRATEGY

Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons represent the biggest danger to humanity. During the Cold War, the US and USSR provided ‘umbrella protection’ to convince allies not to acquire nuclear weapons. Most ‘newly’ independent nations never had such security during the Cold War since they were not part of a power bloc. During the Iran-Iraq conflict (1980-1988), the Islamic Republic of Iran was attacked with chemical weapons. Since Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian exile organization, exposed Iran's hidden nuclear program in 2002, the topic has gained worldwide attention. Iran's nuclear agenda has produced a worldwide catastrophe despite its NPT membership. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and respects Islamic values. Most US politicians and academics consider Iran a rough nation with political and strategic concerns, including regional hegemony, human rights, terrorism, WMD proliferation, and military operations beyond the border. This study examines Iran's nuclear policies to demonstrate its essence, goal, and strategy.      &nbsp

Attitudes of second language students towards self-editing their own written texts

Recognizing students’ deliberate e!orts to minimize errors in their written texts is valuable in seeing them as responsible active agents in text creation. This paper reports on a brief survey of the attitudes towards self-editing of seventy university students using a questionnaire and class discussion. The context of the study is characterized by its emphasis on evaluating the finished written product. Findings show that students appreciate the role of self-editing in minimizing errors in their texts and that it helps in eventually producing well-written texts. Conceptualizing writing as discourse and therefore as social practice leads to an understanding of writers as socially-situated actors; repositions the student writer as an active agent in text creation; and is central to student-centred pedagogy. We recommend the recognition of self-editing as a vital element in the writing process and that additional error detection mechanisms namely peers, the lecturer, and the computer, increase student autonomy

Diverse but desolate landscape of gut microbial azoreductases: A rationale for idiopathic IBD drug response

Prodrugs reliant on microbial activation are widely used but exhibit a range of efficacies that remain poorly understood. The anti-inflammatory compound 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), which is packaged in a variety of azo-linked prodrugs provided to most Ulcerative Colitis (UC) patients, shows confounding inter-individual variabilities in response. Such prodrugs must be activated by azo-bond reduction to form 5-ASA, a process that has been attributed to both enzymatic and non-enzymatic catalysis. Gut microbial azoreductases (AzoRs) are the first catalysts shown to activate azo-linked drugs and to metabolize toxic azo-chemicals. Here, we chart the scope of the structural and functional diversity of AzoRs in health and in patients with the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) UC and Crohn's Disease (CD). Using structural metagenomics, we define the landscape of gut microbial AzoRs in 413 healthy donor and 1059 IBD patient fecal samples. Firmicutes encode a significantly higher number of unique AzoRs compared to other phyla. However, structural and biochemical analyses of distinct AzoRs from the human microbiome reveal significant differences between prevalent orthologs in the processing of toxic azo-dyes, and their generally poor activation of IBD prodrugs. Furthermore, while individuals with IBD show higher abundances of AzoR-encoding gut microbial taxa than healthy controls, the overall abundance of AzoR-encoding microbes is markedly low in both disease and health. Together, these results establish that gut microbial AzoRs are functionally diverse but sparse in both health and disease, factors that may contribute to non-optimal processing of azo-linked prodrugs and idiopathic IBD drug responses

Best Practices for Cataloging Video Games Using RDA and MARC21

While a cataloger with experience handling different formats will find that many concepts extend to video games, there are a few ‘quirks’ to the format that those unfamiliar with video games should know about

Star Clusters in the Nearby Late-Type Galaxy NGC 1311

Ultraviolet, optical and near infrared images of the nearby (D ~ 5.5 Mpc) SBm galaxy NGC 1311, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, reveal a small population of 13 candidate star clusters. We identify candidate star clusters based on a combination of their luminosity, extent and spectral energy distribution. The masses of the cluster candidates range from ~1000 up to ~100000 Solar masses, and show a strong positive trend of larger mass with increasing with cluster age. Such a trend follows from the fading and dissolution of old, low-mass clusters, and the lack of any young super star clusters of the sort often formed in strong starbursts. The cluster age distribution is consistent with a bursting mode of cluster formation, with active episodes of age ~10 Myr, ~100 Myr and ~1 Gyr. The ranges of age and mass we probe are consistent with those of the star clusters found in quiescent Local Group dwarf galaxies.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, accepted by A