Bibliometrics : an overview

Research support is an expanding area of activity for libraries in the HE sector. At the University of Hull, the recent reorganisation of Library and Learning Innovation involved a redistribution of expertise to meet the changing needs of the University, its staff and students. As part of this, a new Research Services Team was created to meet the needs of the research community and so contribute to a key strategic aim of increasing the quantity and quality of research outputs

Binary black hole merger: symmetry and the spin expansion

We regard binary black hole (BBH) merger as a map from a simple initial state (two Kerr black holes, with dimensionless spins {\bf a} and {\bf b}) to a simple final state (a Kerr black hole with mass m, dimensionless spin {\bf s}, and kick velocity {\bf k}). By expanding this map around {\bf a} = {\bf b} = 0 and applying symmetry constraints, we obtain a simple formalism that is remarkably successful at explaining existing BBH simulations. It also makes detailed predictions and suggests a more efficient way of mapping the parameter space of binary black hole merger. Since we rely on symmetry rather than dynamics, our expansion complements previous analytical techniques.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, matches Phys. Rev. Lett. versio

Noise source location in the built environment, using a simple microphone array

An inadequate level of noise attenuation provided by a building element is frequently the result of a lack of completeness in the construction. This often invisible fault acts as a noise source in a room, so in order to undertake remedial work the source position must be found. Recently, near field noise intensity measurement has been the popular method for noise source location in buildings. This method of using intensity studies requires a grid of readings to be taken. An alternative method, the one used in this work, employs a different strategy. Here, the source location is identified by direction scanning of time delays at a number of microphones arranged in a regular three-dimensional array. A novel arrangement of seven microphones, in the shape of a wheel-brace, is used to measure the differences in time taken for the sound waves to travel from a source to the various microphones. The magnitudes of these time differences are combined and converted into the coordinates of the source, relative to an origin which is placed at the centre of the wheel-brace array. The mathematics for this conversion is derived and the errors in the experimental arrangement discussed. The use of this airay for the identification of faults in built structures is explored. A significant contribution is made to the knowledge of noise source location in buildings, since the microphone array is used to demonstrate the location of a noise source irrespective of the direction of the incoming noise. The use of computerised data collection is described for a budget system, where time was cheap, but equipment expensive. The accuracy of the technique would be improved considerably if state-of-the-art electronics were used to measure the lime differences. The feasibility, advantages and potential performance of a modem system, that could be assembled today, is described and discussed.School of Architectur

Health strategies for the control of childhood malnutrition

Malnutrition is the most important cause of morbidity and mortality of young children in non-industrialized poor countries. The control of protein - energy malnutrition is more complex than the prevention of most other common killing diseases of children. It requires a multi-disciplinary approach including involvement of departments and staff responsible for agriculture, social services, education, economic development, health and possibly others. The aetiology of the problem is complex and is closely related to poverty, deprivation, ignorance and prevalent infectious diseases. Intervention programmes should be considered a legitimate part of national and local development plans. This paper, while briefly discussing the planning of nutrition programmes, deals primarily with those interventions in which health personnel play a leading role. The need for base-line data, for continuing surveillance and for planned evaluation of programmes is discussed. The major part of the paper consists of a critical examination of the three levels of treatment and prevention now commonly favoured: the hospital, the nutrition rehabilitation centre and the health clinic

Nutrition planning and policy for African countries: summary report of a seminar held 2-19 June, 1976

This paper is the summary report of a seminar which was held at the Institute for Development Studies from 2 to 19 June 1976, The seminar was sponsored by USAID through a contract to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Participants were government officers and employees of nongovernment agencies from ten English-speaking African countries whose responsibilities are clearly related to nutrition planning and policy making. The report includes short summaries of the sessions conducted by the seminar staff members. Some of these sessions were devoted to the salient nutritional problems of Africa and their complex causes, to sociocultural factors that influence the condition and its alleviation, and to the basic economic considerations relating to the cause and control of malnutrition and food shortages. However, much more time was devoted to planning and policy relating to nutrition. The participants formed working groups and prepared short reports on nutrition planning for Tanzania's Ujamaa villages, on nutrition activities and goals in Kenya, on increased wheat consumption and the trend toward bottle feeding in West Africa, and on nutrition actitivities in the Sudan. The working group reports are also included in this paper

Repositioning Information Science.

International audienceDuring the twentieth century there was a strong desire for information studies to become scientific, to move from librarianship, bibliography, and documentation to an information science. In 1968 the American Documentation Institute was renamed American Society for Information Science. By the twenty-first century, however, departments of (library and) information science had turned instead towards the social sciences, but have not been successful in providing a coherent explanation of the nature and scope of the field. The accepted view of Information Science as an emerging, scientific discipline closely tied with Information Technology and, mainly, textual data, will be challenged. Three brief presentations proposing different foundations and directions as a basis for a moderated discussion: There are other options: The development of Information Science in France has been radically different and has from the start been steeped in the humanities. The scope and focus should be broader to include, for example, the cognitive and aesthetic experiences of museum visitors? If Information Science is really concerned with influencing what people know, what kind of science can Information Science be

The spin expansion for binary black hole merger: new predictions and future directions

In a recent paper arXiv:0709.0299, we introduced a spin expansion that provides a simple yet powerful way to understand aspects of binary black hole (BBH) merger. This approach relies on the symmetry properties of initial and final quantities like the black hole mass m, kick velocity {\bf k}, and spin vector {\bf s}, rather than a detailed understanding of the merger dynamics. In this paper, we expand on this proposal, examine how well its predictions agree with current simulations, and discuss several future directions that would make it an even more valuable tool. The spin expansion yields many new predictions, including several exact results that may be useful for testing numerical codes. Some of these predictions have already been confirmed, while others await future simulations. We explain how a relatively small number of simulations -- 10 equal-mass simulations, and 16 unequal-mass simulations -- may be used to calibrate all of the coefficients in the spin expansion up to second order at the minimum computational cost. For a more general set of simulations of given covariance, we derive the minimum-variance unbiased estimators for the spin expansion coefficients. We discuss how this calibration would be interesting and fruitful for general relativity and astrophysics. Finally, we sketch the extension to eccentric orbits.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, matches Phys. Rev. D version. Added new appendix: "Minimum-variance estimators for the spin coefficients

Functional visual fields: A cross-sectional UK study to determine which visual field paradigms best reflect difficulty with mobility function

Objectives: To develop an appropriate method of assessing visual field (VF) loss which reflects its functional consequences, this study aims to determine which method(s) of assessing visual fields best reflect mobility difficulty. Setting: This cross-sectional observational study took place within a single primary care setting. Participants attended a single session at a University Eye Clinic, Cambridge, UK, with data collected by a single researcher (HS), a qualified optometrist. Participants: 50 adult participants with peripheral field impairment were recruited for this study. Individuals with conditions not primarily affecting peripheral visual function, such as macular degeneration, were excluded from the study. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Participants undertook three custom and one standard binocular VF tests assessing visual field to 60 degrees, and also integrated monocular threshold 24-2 visual fields (IVF). Primary VF outcomes were average mean threshold, percentage of stimuli seen, and VF area. VF outcomes were compared to self-reported mobility function assessed with the Independent Mobility Questionnaire, and time taken and patient acceptability were also considered. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves determined which tests best predicted difficulty with mobility tasks. Results: Greater VF loss was associated with greater self-reported mobility difficulty with all field paradigms (R2 0.38-0.48, all p<0.001). All four binocular tests were better than the IVF at predicting difficulty with at least three mobility tasks in ROC analysis. Mean duration of the tests ranged from 1min 26sec (±9sec) for kinetic assessment to 9min 23sec (±24 sec) for IVF. Conclusions: The binocular VF tests extending to 60 deg eccentricity all relate similarly to self-reported mobility function, and slightly better than integrated monocular VFs. A kinetic assessment of VF area is quicker than and as effective at predicting mobility function as static threshold assessment

Transits and Occultations of an Earth-Sized Planet in an 8.5-Hour Orbit

We report the discovery of an Earth-sized planet ($1.16\pm 0.19 R_\oplus$) in an 8.5-hour orbit around a late G-type star (KIC 8435766, Kepler-78). The object was identified in a search for short-period planets in the {\it Kepler} database and confirmed to be a transiting planet (as opposed to an eclipsing stellar system) through the absence of ellipsoidal light variations or substantial radial-velocity variations. The unusually short orbital period and the relative brightness of the host star ($m_{\rm Kep}$ = 11.5) enable robust detections of the changing illumination of the visible hemisphere of the planet, as well as the occultations of the planet by the star. We interpret these signals as representing a combination of reflected and reprocessed light, with the highest planet dayside temperature in the range of 2300 K to 3100 K. Follow-up spectroscopy combined with finer sampling photometric observations will further pin down the system parameters and may even yield the mass of the planet.Comment: Accepted for publication, ApJ, 10 pages and 6 figure