Change Your Service Policies Based on Your Data

Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries' free “Get it for me” service is popular and appreciated by its students and faculty alike. Nevertheless, we noticed many items were not picked up after receipt. In the spring semester of 2016, for each item not picked up, we emailed our customers to ask why they did not come to pick up their requests. Based on the data, we made service policy changes in the summer semester of 2016. As a result we saw a decrease in not picked up rate since. This paper explains the methods we used to achieve this improved results

Cross-Train Your New Hire With a Plan and Schedule

Texas A&M University Libraries’ Document Delivery Services is responsible for interlibrary loan and in-house document delivery services for our campus of 65,000 customers. A team of 10 FTE staff members, including the director of the department, processed about 156,000 requests in 2015 (74,278 lending requests, 54,032 borrowing requests, and 28,064 in-house document scanning/book on hold retrieval requests). In the summer of 2015, two of our employees (one in lending and one in in-house document delivery) left the department, citing family reasons and professional promotion opportunities. When we advertised the two newly vacated positions, we revised the position descriptions - instead of focusing on only one aspect of operation, we decided to train our two new hires on all three functions, namely, borrowing, lending, and in-house document delivery. This paper shows the readers strategies we employed to train the two new hires, what we learned from this experiment, and how they felt about the training and their workload. Their daily responsibilities now involve in all three functions. This model has paid off. The new hires developed a clear understanding and appreciation for the interconnection of the department's services. They are more confident and self-reliant with a broader skill set. Department dynamics have been improved. Turnaround times have improved by .5 days for borrowing and 1 full day for lending. Training schedules are included

Survey Says…?: Assessing Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Use and Awareness for Responsive Service Delivery

The object of this study is to assess Texas A&M University (TAMU) students/faculty/staff members’ use and awareness of the Libraries’ free document delivery and interlibrary loan service, branded as “Get It For Me.” Since 2010, we have continued to see a decline in new user registrations each year. Previous Get It For Me user surveys conducted in 2003 and 2011 indicated that the overall satisfaction of registered users was high and customer feedback gleaned from these surveys was used to initiate a number of service improvements. But what about the large percentage of the campus community who do not use the Get It For Me service? Are they aware of what this service has to offer? If so, why might they choose not to use it? If they are not aware of the service, might they use it if they knew more about how it can assist them in their scholarly endeavors? Instead of only surveying those customers who have used this service, we invited everyone on TAMU College Station campus to participate in the survey. Promoting the service is a vital component of service delivery

Chinese American Librarians in American Research Libraries: A Profile

This study endeavors to establish a profile of Chinese American librarians working in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university libraries in the United States. A questionnaire was emailed on November 16, 2016 to 236 Chinese American librarians identified by their names from the websites of 100 research libraries in the United States. 88 Chinese American librarians responded to the survey. The findings of the study show that: 78% of Chinese American librarians working in ARL university libraries were born outside of the United States, 72% are female, 56% received their bachelor's degree in China, 46% are subject librarians, half of them have been promoted in their current libraries, 65% serve on national committees, and 95% are satisfied with their current job.This study was approved by the Human Subjects Protection Program, Institutional Review Board at Texas A&M University, study number (IRB 2016-0757M; approval date 11/08/2016; Expiration date: 11/01/2021

Spatio-temporal Markov chain model for very-short-term wind power forecasting

Wind power forecasting (WPF) is crucial in helping schedule and trade wind power generation at various spatial and temporal scales. With increasing number of wind farms over a region, research focus of WPF methods has been recently moved onto exploring spatial correlation among wind farms to benefit forecasting. In this study, a spatio-temporal Markov chain model is proposed for very-short-term WPF by extending the traditional discrete-time Markov chain and incorporating off-site reference information to improve forecasting accuracy of regional wind farms. Not only are the transitions between the power output states of the target wind farm itself considered in the forecasting model, but also the transitions from the output states of reference wind farms to that of the target wind farm are introduced. The forecasting results derived from multiple spatio-temporal Markov chains regarding different reference wind farms over the same region are optimally weighted using sparse optimisation to generate forecasts of the target wind farm. The proposed method is validated by comparing with both local and spatio-temporal WPF methods, using a real-world dataset

Genomic Inference of the Metabolism and Evolution of the Archaeal Phylum Aigarchaeota

Microbes of the phylum Aigarchaeota are widely distributed in geothermal environments, but their physiological and ecological roles are poorly understood. Here we analyze six Aigarchaeota metagenomic bins from two circumneutral hot springs in Tengchong, China, to reveal that they are either strict or facultative anaerobes, and most are chemolithotrophs that can perform sulfide oxidation. Applying comparative genomics to the Thaumarchaeota and Aigarchaeota, we find that they both originated from thermal habitats, sharing 1154 genes with their common ancestor. Horizontal gene transfer played a crucial role in shaping genetic diversity of Aigarchaeota and led to functional partitioning and ecological divergence among sympatric microbes, as several key functional innovations were endowed by Bacteria, including dissimilatory sulfite reduction and possibly carbon monoxide oxidation. Our study expands our knowledge of the possible ecological roles of the Aigarchaeota and clarifies their evolutionary relationship to their sister lineage Thaumarchaeota

Association of sleep characteristics with cardiovascular disease risk in adults over 40 years of age: a cross-sectional survey

BackgroundThe relationship between sleep characteristics and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has yet to reach a consistent conclusion, and more research needs to be carried out. This study aimed to explore the relationship between snoring, daytime sleepiness, bedtime, sleep duration, and high-risk sleep patterns with CVD risk.MethodsData from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2018 were collected and analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between snoring, daytime sleepiness, bedtime, sleep duration, high-risk sleep patterns, and CVD risk. Stratified analysis and interaction tests were carried out according to hypertension, diabetes and age.ResultsThe final analysis contained 6,830 participants, including 1,001 with CVD. Multivariable logistic regression suggested that the relationship between snoring [OR = 7.37,95%CI = (6.06,8.96)], daytime sleepiness [OR = 11.21,95%CI = (9.60,13.08)], sleep duration shorter than 7 h [OR = 9.50,95%CI = (7.65,11.79)] or longer than 8 h [OR = 6.61,95%CI = (5.33,8.19)], bedtime after 0:00 [OR = 13.20,95%CI = (9.78,17.80)] compared to 22:00–22:59, high-risk sleep patterns [OR = 47.73,95%CI = (36.73,62.04)] and CVD risk were statistically significant. Hypertension and diabetes interacted with high-risk sleep patterns, but age did not.ConclusionsSnoring, daytime sleepiness, excessive or short sleep duration, inappropriate bedtime, and high-risk sleep patterns composed of these factors are associated with the CVD risk. High-risk sleep patterns have a more significant impact on patients with hypertension and diabetes

Metasurface spectrometers beyond resolution-sensitivity constraints

Optical spectroscopy plays an essential role across scientific research and industry for non-contact materials analysis1-3, increasingly through in-situ or portable platforms4-6. However, when considering low-light-level applications, conventional spectrometer designs necessitate a compromise between their resolution and sensitivity7,8, especially as device and detector dimensions are scaled down. Here, we report on a miniaturizable spectrometer platform where light throughput onto the detector is instead enhanced as the resolution is increased. This planar, CMOS-compatible platform is based around metasurface encoders designed to exhibit photonic bound states in the continuum9, where operational range can be altered or extended simply through adjusting geometric parameters. This system can enhance photon collection efficiency by up to two orders of magnitude versus conventional designs; we demonstrate this sensitivity advantage through ultra-low-intensity fluorescent and astrophotonic spectroscopy. This work represents a step forward for the practical utility of spectrometers, affording a route to integrated, chip-based devices that maintain high resolution and SNR without requiring prohibitively long integration times

Comparative effectiveness and safety of Chinese medicine belly button application for childhood diarrhea: a Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BackgroundChinese medicine belly button application (CMBBA) has been used to treat childhood diarrhea (CD) in several randomized controlled trials (RCTs), but its effectiveness and combination strategy still need to be clarified. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and the optimal combination strategy of CMBBA in treating CD.MethodsUp until January 2023, we searched for studies that met our inclusion criteria in six databases, including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Chinese SinoMed, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang. Heterogeneity was quantified using I2 statistics. A methodological evaluation was performed using the Cochrane Risk Bias Tool 2.0. The Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis online software was employed to evaluate evidence grading. A minimally contextualized framework was used to provide a comprehensive conclusion for the network meta-analysis. This study protocol was registered with PROSPERO.ResultsWe analyzed data from 33 RCTs that included 4,490 children with diarrhea. In terms of clinical effectiveness, CMBBA plus montmorillonite powder plus anti-infectives may be the most effective treatment option for children with diarrhea and concurrent infection according to a minimally contextualized framework. Either exclusive use of CMBBA or CMBBA in combination with modern medicine was beneficial in reducing the time to diarrhea disappearance (MD = −1.33 days, 95% CI: −1.59 to −1.08, Z = −10.103, p < 0.001) compared to modern medicine exclusively, and the difference was statistically significant. The combined usage of CMBBA could shorten the recovery time of dehydration by an average of 0.74 days (MD = −0.74 days, 95% CI: −1.10 to −0.37, Z = −3.931.103, p < 0.001). While some studies have reported mild allergic reactions and mild abdominal pain after CMBBA use, these symptoms can be cured in a relatively short period of time.ConclusionsThe combination of CMBBA, montmorillonite powder, and anti-infectives may provide superior clinical effectiveness for children with diarrhea and concurrent infection. To treat CD, CMBBA can be used effectively and safely. However, the findings must be interpreted with cautiously due to the limited number of clinical trials and the low quality of the studies. In addition, the choice of treatment plan should also be based on the specific conditions of each patient.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier: CRD4202238069

A genetic variation map for chicken with 2.8 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms

We describe a genetic variation map for the chicken genome containing 2.8 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms ( SNPs). This map is based on a comparison of the sequences of three domestic chicken breeds ( a broiler, a layer and a Chinese silkie) with that of their wild ancestor, red jungle fowl. Subsequent experiments indicate that at least 90% of the variant sites are true SNPs, and at least 70% are common SNPs that segregate in many domestic breeds. Mean nucleotide diversity is about five SNPs per kilobase for almost every possible comparison between red jungle fowl and domestic lines, between two different domestic lines, and within domestic lines - in contrast to the notion that domestic animals are highly inbred relative to their wild ancestors. In fact, most of the SNPs originated before domestication, and there is little evidence of selective sweeps for adaptive alleles on length scales greater than 100 kilobases