Does the way museum staff define inspiration help them work with information from visitors' Social Media?

Since the early 2000s, Social Media has become part of the everyday activity of billions of people. Museums and galleries are part of this major cultural change - the largest museums attract millions of Social Media 'friends' and 'followers', and museums now use Social Media channels for marketing and audience engagement activities. Social Media has also become a more heavily-used source of data with which to investigate human behaviour. Therefore, this research investigated the potential uses of Social Media information to aid activities such as exhibition planning and development, or fundraising, in museums. Potential opportunities provided by the new Social Media platforms include the ability to capture data at high volume and then analyse them computationally. For instance, the links between entities on a Social Media platform can be analysed. Who follows who? Who created the content related to a specific event, and when? How did communication flow between people and organisations? The computerised analysis techniques used to answer such questions can generate statistics for measuring concepts such as the 'reach' of a message across a network (often equated simply with the potential size of the a message's audience) or the degree of 'engagement' with content (often a simple count of the number of responses, or the number of instances of communication between correspondents). Other computational analysis opportunities related to Social Media rely upon various Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques; for example indexing content and counting term frequency, or using lexicons or online knowledge bases to relate content to concepts. Museums, galleries and other cultural organisations have known for some time, however, that simple quantifications of their audiences (the number of tickets sold for an exhibition, for example), while certainly providing indications of an event's success, do not tell the whole story. While it is important to know that thousands of people have visited an exhibition, it is also part of a museum's remit to inspire the audience, too. A budding world-class artist or ground-breaking engineer could have been one of the thousands in attendance, and the exhibition in question could have been key to the development of their artistic or technical ideas. It is potentially helpful to museums and galleries to know when they have inspired members of their audience, and to be able to tell convincing stories about instances of inspiration, if their full value to society is to be judged. This research, undertaken in participation with two museums, investigated the feasibility of using new data sources from Social Media to capture potential expressions of inspiration made by visitors. With a background in IT systems development, the researcher developed three prototype systems during three cycles of Action Research, and used them to collect and analyse data from the Twitter Social Media platform. This work had two outcomes: firstly, prototyping enabled investigation of the technical constraints of extracting data from a Social Media platform (Twitter), and the computing processes used to analyse that data. Secondly, and more importantly, the prototypes were used to assess potential changes to the work of museum staff information about events visited and experienced by visitors was synthesised, then investigated, discussed and evaluated with the collaborative partners, in order to assess the meaning and value of such information for them. Could the museums use the information in their event and exhibition planning? How might it fit in with event evaluation? Was it clear to the museum what the information meant? What were the risks of misinterpretation? The research made several contributions. Firstly, the research developed a definition of inspiration that resonated with museum staff. While this definition was similar to the definition of 'engagement' from the marketing literature, one difference was an emphasis upon creativity. The second set of contributions related to a deeper understanding of Social Media from museums' perspective, and included findings about how Social Media information could be used to segment current and potential audiences by 'special interest', and find potential expressions of creativity and innovation in the audience's responses to museum activities. These findings also considered some of the pitfalls of working with data from Social Media, in particular the tendency of museum staff to use the information to confirm positive biases, and the often hidden biases caused by the mediating effects of the platforms from which the data came. The final major contribution was a holistic analysis of the ways in which Social Media information could be integrated into the work of a museum, by helping to plan and evaluate audience development and engagement. This aspect of the research also highlighted some of the dangers of an over-dependency upon individual Social Media platforms which was previously absent from the museums literature

ArMedEa project : archaeology of medieval earthquakes in Europe (1000-1550 AD). First research activities.

This paper introduces the research of the Armedea project. Armedea (Archaeology of medieval earthquakes in Europe, 1000-1550 AD) is a medieval archaeology project undertaken at the Department of Archaeology of Durham University which analyses archaeological evidence related to late medieval seismic-affected contexts at a European scale. This project is therefore focused on both earthquake effects on archaeological sites, their standing buildings and environment, and the archaeological evidence that reveals the response of medieval societies in terms of risk reduction, protection and resilience. A first preview of GIS analysis of seismic activity impact on medieval societies and fieldwork activities carried out in Italy, Cyprus and Azores (Portugal) is presented here. This research is supported by a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme

Inferences on selection and mutation from substitution rate differences in both recombining and non-recombining regions of sex chromosomes

This thesis comprises an introductory chapter and four experimental chapters. The introduction is a literature review of the forms and evolution of sex chromosomes and of the molecular evolutionary processes that affect sex-linked genes. Special attention is paid to the commonly and convergently evolved trait of the degenerative Y, whereby these non-recombining chromosomes progressively lose functional genetic material over time. The differences in inheritance, in physical structure and in genetic composition that exist between the sex chromosomes and autosomes, between the X and the Y and even along a single sex chromosome may allow us to partition and contrast the effects of the many hypothesised mechanisms that govern the evolution of entire genomes. The experimental chapters are presented in chronological order but also approach a finer scale; from the generation of a genomic distribution, through an investigation of a class of genes down to detailed analyses of specific sex linked genes. Chapter II deals with sequences in the pseudo-autosomal region (PAR) of the mammalian sex chromosomes, the only region in which the X and Y chromosomes are able to recombine. Due to the small size of the PAR, the recombination rate per nucleotide is higher than any other comparable sized region in the genome. A link between recombination and mutation, suggested by several other studies, is investigated using primate sequence. The chapter describes how 51 pairs of human and orangutan DNA sequences were aligned to generate a distribution of divergence values between these two species. This distribution was then used to show that silent sites in the PAR are evolving at an abnormally high rate; consistent with the hypothesis that recombination is mutagenic. A paper published in the journal Gene and using this result is included after the chapter. In contrast to the previous chapter, Chapter III investigates three pairs of X and Y linked genes that have not recombined with each other for tens of millions of years. By sequencing and aligning these genes in a range of primates, I was able to test for differences in the rate of adaptive evolution between different sites along the sequence. As well as a reduced level of selective constraint on the Y chromosome relative to the X, I found evidence that positive selection is still able to drive the evolution of genes in a non-recombining Y chromosome after such a long time. This result is surprising and contradictory to several predictions of the demise of Y chromosomes. Chapter III has been submitted to the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. In Chapter IV these methods are applied to Amelogenin (AMEL), the gene that helps to lay down tooth enamel. This gene used to lie inside the sex chromosome PAR but since monkeys diverged from lemurs, it has existed as X and Y forms in the lineage leading to humans. In attempting to discern if the Y linked amelogenin is still under selection or evolving neutrally, several conflicting patterns were discovered. Whilst some of the primate AMEL sequences appeared to be recombining, it was found to be more likely that recurrent mutation at specific sites in an otherwise conserved sequence were generating a false signal. Y linked amelogenin is still conserved, but is adjusting to life on a non-recombining chromosome with its associated mutation bias and reduction in constraint

Open innovation in Health and Social Care: ICT supported co-creation of quality improvements

Open innovation in Health and Social Care: ICT supported co-creation of quality improvement

Social media analytics in museums: extracting expressions of inspiration

Museums have a remit to inspire visitors. However, inspiration is a complex, subjective construct and analyses of inspiration are often laborious. Increased use of social media by museums and visitors may provide new opportunities to collect evidence of inspiration more efficiently. This research investigates the feasibility of a system based on knowledge patterns from FrameNet – a lexicon structured around models of typical experiences – to extract expressions of inspiration from social media. The study balanced interpretation of inspiration by museum staff and computational processing of Twitter data. This balance was achieved by using prototype tools to change a museum’s Information Systems in ways that both enabled the potential of new, social-media-based information sources to be assessed, and which caused the museum staff to reflect upon the nature of inspiration and its role in the relationships between the museum and its visitors. The prototype tools collected and helped analyse Twitter data related to two events. Working with museum experts, the value of finding expressions of inspiration in Tweets was explored and an evaluation using annotated content achieved an F-measure of 0.46, indicating that social media may have some potential as a source of valuable information for museums, though this depends heavily upon how annotation exercises are conducted. These findings are discussed along with the wider implications of the role of social media in museums

DEVELOPING THE HIGH-TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY IN MEXICO THROUGH SUPPLY CHAIN COLLABORATION AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

The high-technology industry is composed of various sectors which are characterized by more strict and demanding clients within international growing markets. Developing countries face harsher domestic conditions than others, however, there are some countries such as Mexico, China and India whose industries have been recognized as reliable supply chains, especially for the high-technology one. Supply Chain Collaboration or Strategic Technology Partnering’s is a pathway for learning and collaboration that will enhance benefits such as optimizing resources, make operations more efficient and most importantly, foment collaboration and knowledge sharing amongst industries that will enable their development. The government plays an important role as well in industry development. Government support and collaboration is an essential element for industry expansion, especially in developing countries. Alongside SCC, the government can be a critical starting point or obstacle for the high-technology industry. This paper studies the impact SCC alongside government support has had over the past two decades in the Mexican aerospace and electronics sectors of the high-technology industry. Through analysis of literature and data obtained from semi-structured interviews carried out with subjects that are or have been involved in these sectors, it is concluded that this strategy alongside government cooperation and support are critical factors that will foment industry development and improve the high-technology one for developing countries

Monitoring Sarcomere Structure Changes in Whole Muscle Using Diffuse Light Reflectance

doi:10.1117/1.2234278Normal biomechanical and physiological functions of striated muscles are facilitated by the repeating sarcomere units. Light scattering technique has been used in studying single extracted muscle fibers. However, few studies, if any, have been conducted to investigate the possibility of using optical detection to examine sarcomere structure changes in whole muscles. We conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate that optical scattering properties measured in whole muscle are related to changes in sarcomere structure. These results suggest that photon migration technique has a potential for characterizing in vivo tissue ultrastructure changes in whole muscle

The 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Significance and Implications for the Future

On December 12, 2015, nearly 200 countries created a major new agreement on climate change, accompanied by national commitments to act. The Paris Agreement has rightly been celebrated as a breakthrough, but was unquestionably constrained by the need for compromise, and its details will continue to be developed at the international, national, and local levels. On January 9, 2016, a panel of expert commentators and delegation members from a variety of national jurisdictions convened at the annual American Association of Law Schools meeting to analyze the Paris Agreement; they considered how the agreement evolved from prior efforts, the structure of its commitments, and its implications for the future. This Dialogue presents a transcript of the discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations

Could Collaborative Research between Two Major Libraries Help Consolidate Digital Preservation and Break the “Project Cycle”?

The successful preservation of digital assets requires maintenance, continuity of service, and proactive stewardship.1 An ongoing challenge for Bodleian Libraries (of Oxford University) and Cambridge University Library (CUL) has been taking outputs from time-bound digital preservation projects and turning them into ongoing uninterrupted services. This is not a challenge which is specific to Bodleian Libraries and CUL, but it has been recognized as a difficult transition for many organizations to make. The Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge (DPOC) project (2016–2018) is a collaboration between Bodleian Libraries and CUL which is supported and funded by The Polonsky Foundation. Bodleian Libraries and CUL have historically strong ties, and have previously collaborated on digital preservation projects. Both organizations also have experience creating digital preservation resources, for which stewardship at the end of projects has been transferred over to staff within the libraries for maintenance. However, siloed preservation activities have so far not translated into institution-wide, ongoing programmatic digital preservation activities