A Different Kind of Embedded Librarian: More than Just a New Office

An increasing number of colleges and universities are embracing the concept of the embedded librarian. The goal is to put librarians into the physical space where students and faculty are most likely to encounter them rather than waiting for patrons to come to the library. This article asks if just doing the same thing differently is enough. A different kind of embedded librarian may be needed – one who has a regular teaching load in a curricular discipline, thereby better connecting the library with the classroom end of delivering the educational mission to the benefit of everyone

The Nine Commandments

Recently, I found a file of old letters in the attic. Gently opening the folder, I noticed one unusual manuscript among the yellowing documents. It looked new, even though I was confident that this file had not been touched for decades. What was this letter, and why was it in such pristine condition? Curiosity got the best of me, and taking the paper in my hand, I began to read: My Dear Bookworm, You know how Our Father Below successfully tempted Eve in the Garden many years ago. Our Father appealed to the creature’s pride by convincing her that through exercising her freedom of choice she would become as wise as the Enemy. The Enemy was not surprised by this turn of events. When He created Adam and Eve, the Enemy knew that this danger existed – that the freedom He had given to his creatures might be used against Him – but He thought the risk worth taking. He lost the bet

The Y Factor

In my last column, I discussed the issue of faculty status, trying to analyze why librarians have failed to achieve their most desired target -- academic respectability. I concluded that faculty culture does not accept librarians as equals. Yes, librarians may be useful -- they may eve be expert in what they do -- but they are different. Faculty may be ready to grant librarians something, but it is not equal status. Maybe it is time to examine the need for status that librarians exhibit

Never On A Sunday: The Sabbath And The Christian Academic Library - Part 1

The article will appear in two parts. Part One examines the biblical basis for the positions taken and makes a general application. Part Two, in the next issue, will look at the application of Scripture to the world of Christian higher education and its libraries

Values: A Christian Perspective, A Response To Michael Gorman

Michael Gorman\u27s recent challenge to Christian librarians at the ACL annual conference in San Diego begs for a response. What was the nature of that challenge? It was that we, as Christian librarians, should share values that can be derived completely from a humanistic perspective. It would be surprising if a humanistic perspective could successfully articulate Christian values, and in this case, there is no surprise

Primitive prime divisors in zero orbits of polynomials

Let $(b_n) = (b_1, b_2, ...)$ be a sequence of integers. A primitive prime divisor of a term $b_k$ is a prime which divides $b_k$ but does not divide any of the previous terms of the sequence. A zero orbit of a polynomial $f(z)$ is a sequence of integers $(c_n)$ where the $n$-th term is the $n$-th iterate of $f$ at 0. We consider primitive prime divisors of zero orbits of polynomials. In this note, we show that for integers $c$ and $d$, where $d > 1$ and $c \neq \pm 1$, every iterate in the zero orbit of $f(z) = z^d + c$ contains a primitive prime whenever zero has an infinite orbit. If $c = \pm 1$, then every iterate after the first contains a primitive prime.Comment: 6 page

A Theory Of Set-class Salience For Post-tonal Music, With Analyses Of Selected Lieder By Anton Webern (austria)

In the course of the past three decades pitch-class (pc) set theory has become the predominant instrument in analytic approaches to post-tonal music; many theorists have demonstrated its analytic efficacy and fruitfulness for a broad spectrum of music. But, despite its remarkable analytic capacity, set theory does not itself offer a means whereby to assess the relative significance of the musical events that it identifies. In the present study I propose a theory of post-tonal musical structure whose basis for interpreting the weight of a musical event engages to a large extent the operations of set theory itself. This theory, which I call the salience theory, engages three of the four classical set-theoretic relations--equivalence, complementarity, and inclusion--together with considerations of form, in its assessment of set-class salience.;The salience theory, of which Allen Forte\u27s genera theory and a rather regimented segmentation strategy form two integral aspects, purports to model post-tonal compositions as series of events. Many events share structural and contextual properties, some of which I identify and specify as event-classes. Each pc set within a composition, through its association with event-classes, achieves a numerical ranking that reflects its relative salience--the more times a pc set instantiates and event-class, and the broader the range of event-classes it instantiates, the greater its structural role.;While the salience theory has generalizability as its ultimate goal, the purview of the present study is limited to selected atonal Lieder of Anton Webern. Analysis of the Lieder posits the especial salience of a small collection of set-classes and also establishes a correlation between many members of this collection and Forte\u27s atonal Genus 8 and chromatic Genus 5. The predominance of these two genera also underscores a homogeneity of pitch resources among the five Lieder under consideration.;The salience theory proffers another vantage from which to explore post-tonal musical structure. In the conclusion to this study I suggest that the theory is amenable to extension, and that one might usefully restructure it to study the structural impact of musical parameters other than pitch

Autonomous Systems Validation (SysVal) Environment for Advancing Mission Operations

In order to maintain the health and productivity of satellites, it is crucial to develop a system that can swiftly, accurately, and effectively reproduce the on-orbit workflow and behavior a spacecraft experiences. To achieve this, Planet created the Systems Validation (SysVal) ecosystem; originally developed to validate individual spacecraft subsystem design requirements, and has evolved to encompass satellite concept of operation workflows, innovating test processes while mitigating risks through the ability to rapidly mimic on-orbit activities in a lab environment. SysVal is a fully integrated hardware and software system composed of a ground station network and a mission operations center with multiple integrated satellites, developed in-house by Planet, to assist with operating its Dove constellation of Earth-imaging satellites. Planet’s implementation of agile aerospace has exposed the value of SysVal, which facilitates seamless transitions of operational improvements from development and experimentation to rapid productionalization by incorporating “Test-Like-You-Fly” principles. SysVal utilizes cloned instances of Planet’s operational mission control interfaces and data storage platforms along with fully integrated flight capable satellite hardware, the same build that is flown in space, to test software upgrades before they are deployed on-orbit, reproduce on-orbit issues on the ground, replicate continuous “Day in the Life\u27\u27 satellite operations, examine changes with potential operational impacts, while being easily managed remotely by a distributed team. System autonomy is a principal component of SysVal to alleviate human-in-the-loop decision making, maintenance and resources, and is utilized for quick snapshots of the testbed states, software deploys to match the lab environment to the production environment, automated flashing of lab satellite onboard software images to match on-orbit satellites, as well as autonomous analysis of system-level metrics and daily testbed testing with operator notification. This paper describes the SysVal system utilized by Planet and the latest automations integrated into the ecosystem that assist with the testing and development of operating the world’s largest Earth Observation satellite constellation

Brief fruit and vegetable messages integrated within a community physical activity program successfully change behaviour

BACKGROUND: Consumption of the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables is associated with several health benefits. Currently less than 25% of the American population meets the minimum recommendation of five servings a day. In order to change this health behaviour, interventions should be based on theory and include community-wide social support. METHODS: A low intensity intervention was developed in which participants (n = 86) were randomly assigned to either the fruit and vegetable intervention (FVI) or standard control condition. The intervention was integrated into an ongoing community physical activity program and study participants were drawn from the sample of community members enrolled in the program. The FVI consisted of brief social cognitive theory-based messages delivered in nine weekly newsletters designed to improve participant outcome and self-efficacy expectations related to fruit and vegetable consumption. RESULTS: Participants in the FVI condition increased in their fruit and vegetable consumption by approximately one to one and one-third servings per day. The control condition showed no change in consumption. The effect of the intervention was enhanced when examined by the extent to which it was adopted by participants (i.e., the number of newsletters read). Those participants who read seven or more newsletters showed an increase of two servings per day. CONCLUSION: This intervention was effective at improving fruit and vegetable consumption among adults. Minimal interventions, such as newsletters, have the ability to reach large audiences and can be integrated into ongoing health promotion programs. As such, they have potential for a strong public health impact