A new library in Bloomsbury: relocating the UCL SSEES Library

Purpose – The paper seeks to describe the processes involved in an academic library building project, from the choice of site and appointment of the architects to the move itself. The focus is on finding solutions to problems caused by limited space, fixed deadlines and innovative design, and ensuring that the Library needs are fully understood throughout a complex project involving other interest groups over a number of years. Design/methodology/approach – The experience of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library is used as a case study to describe various issues around library design, working with architects and project managers, and managing a library move. Reference is made to the impact of the 7 July bombings in London on library staff. Findings – The case study outlines the importance of Library involvement in every aspect of the design, the impact of decisions about internal layout on library capacity, the adaptability of library staff to unusual and difficult working conditions, the possibility of providing a limited service in an incomplete building, the importance of balancing aesthetic and functional considerations in the final design, and the impact of those design decisions on the long-term functioning and use of the Library. Originality/value – The paper describes most of the processes and problems likely to be encountered in a major library building project and will be useful to any library setting out on such a project

Supporting Research in Area Studies: a guide for academic libraries

The study of other countries or regions of the world often crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries in the humanities and social sciences. Supporting Research in Area Studies is a comprehensive guide for academic libraries supporting these communities of researchers. This book explores the specialist requirements of these researchers in information resources, resource discovery tools, and information skills, and the challenges of working with materials in multiple languages. It makes the case that by adapting their systems and procedures to meet these needs, academic libraries find themselves better placed to support their institution's�� international agenda more widely. The first four chapters cover the academic landscape and its history, area studies librarianship and acquisitions. Subsequent chapters discuss collections management, digital products, and the digital humanities, and their role in academic projects. The final chapter explores information skills and the various disciplinary skills that facilitate the needs of researchers during their careers

EuropeanaTravel

EuropeanaTravel is an EU-funded initiative to digitise cultural heritage treasures on the themes of travel, tourism, trade routes and exploration from Europe’s national and leading research libraries

Antarctic killer whales make rapid, round-trip movements to subtropical waters: evidence for physiological maintenance migrations?

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are important predators in high latitudes, where their ecological impact is mediated through their movements. We used satellite telemetry to provide the first evidence of migration for killer whales, characterized by fast (more than 12 km h−1, 6.5 knots) and direct movements away from Antarctic waters by six of 12 type B killer whales tagged when foraging near the Antarctic Peninsula, including all tags transmitting for more than three weeks. Tags on five of these whales revealed consistent movements to subtropical waters (30–37° S) off Uruguay and Brazil, in surface water temperatures ranging from −1.9°C to 24.2°C; one 109 day track documented a non-stop round trip of almost 9400 km (5075 nmi) in just 42 days. Although whales travelled slower in the warmest waters, there was no obvious interruption in swim speed or direction to indicate calving or prolonged feeding. Furthermore, these movements were aseasonal, initiating over 80 days between February and April; one whale returned to within 40 km of the tagging site at the onset of the austral winter in June. We suggest that these movements may represent periodic maintenance migrations, with warmer waters allowing skin regeneration without the high cost of heat loss: a physiological constraint that may also affect other whales

The relationship between Hippocampal asymmetry and working memory processing in combat-related PTSD: a monozygotic twin study

BACKGROUND: PTSD is associated with reduction in hippocampal volume and abnormalities in hippocampal function. Hippocampal asymmetry has received less attention, but potentially could indicate lateralised differences in vulnerability to trauma. The P300 event-related potential component reflects the immediate processing of significant environmental stimuli and has generators in several brain regions including the hippocampus. P300 amplitude is generally reduced in people with PTSD. METHODS: Our study examined hippocampal volume asymmetry and the relationship between hippocampal asymmetry and P300 amplitude in male monozygotic twins discordant for Vietnam combat exposure. Lateralised hippocampal volume and P300 data were obtained from 70 male participants, of whom 12 had PTSD. We were able to compare (1) combat veterans with current PTSD; (2) their non-combat-exposed co-twins; (3) combat veterans without current PTSD and (4) their non-combat-exposed co-twins. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between groups in hippocampal asymmetry. There were no group differences in performance of an auditory oddball target detection task or in P300 amplitude. There was a significant positive correlation between P300 amplitude and the magnitude of hippocampal asymmetry in participants with PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that greater hippocampal asymmetry in PTSD is associated with a need to allocate more attentional resources when processing significant environmental stimuli.Timothy Hall, Cherrie Galletly, C.R. Clark, Melinda Veltmeyer, Linda J. Metzger, Mark W. Gilbertson, Scott P. Orr, Roger K. Pitman and Alexander McFarlan

Transport composite fuselage technology: Impact dynamics and acoustic transmission

A program was performed to develop and demonstrate the impact dynamics and acoustic transmission technology for a composite fuselage which meets the design requirements of a 1990 large transport aircraft without substantial weight and cost penalties. The program developed the analytical methodology for the prediction of acoustic transmission behavior of advanced composite stiffened shell structures. The methodology predicted that the interior noise level in a composite fuselage due to turbulent boundary layer will be less than in a comparable aluminum fuselage. The verification of these analyses will be performed by NASA Langley Research Center using a composite fuselage shell fabricated by filament winding. The program also developed analytical methodology for the prediction of the impact dynamics behavior of lower fuselage structure constructed with composite materials. Development tests were performed to demonstrate that the composite structure designed to the same operating load requirement can have at least the same energy absorption capability as aluminum structure

Forces on Bins - The Effect of Random Friction

In this note we re-examine the classic Janssen theory for stresses in bins, including a randomness in the friction coefficient. The Janssen analysis relies on assumptions not met in practice; for this reason, we numerically solve the PDEs expressing balance of momentum in a bin, again including randomness in friction.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, with 9 figures encoded, gzippe

10-y Risks of Death and Emergency Re-admission in Adolescents Hospitalised with Violent, Drug- or Alcohol-Related, or Self-Inflicted Injury: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalisation for adversity-related injury (violent, drug/alcohol-related, or self-inflicted injury) has been described as a "teachable moment", when intervention may reduce risks of further harm. Which adolescents are likely to benefit most from intervention strongly depends on their long-term risks of harm. We compared 10-y risks of mortality and re-admission after adversity-related injury with risks after accident-related injury. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We analysed National Health Service admissions data for England (1 April 1997-31 March 2012) for 10-19 y olds with emergency admissions for adversity-related injury (violent, drug/alcohol-related, or self-inflicted injury; n = 333,009) or for accident-related injury (n = 649,818). We used Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox regression to estimate and compare 10-y post-discharge risks of death and emergency re-admission. Among adolescents discharged after adversity-related injury, one in 137 girls and one in 64 boys died within 10 y, and 54.2% of girls and 40.5% of boys had an emergency re-admission, with rates being highest for 18-19 y olds. Risks of death were higher than in adolescents discharged after accident-related injury (girls: age-adjusted hazard ratio 1.61, 95% CI 1.43-1.82; boys: 2.13, 95% CI 1.98-2.29), as were risks of re-admission (girls: 1.76, 95% CI 1.74-1.79; boys: 1.41, 95% CI 1.39-1.43). Risks of death and re-admission were increased after all combinations of violent, drug/alcohol-related, and self-inflicted injury, but particularly after any drug/alcohol-related or self-inflicted injury (i.e., with/without violent injury), for which age-adjusted hazard ratios for death in boys ranged from 1.67 to 5.35, compared with 1.25 following violent injury alone (girls: 1.09 to 3.25, compared with 1.27). The main limitation of the study was under-recording of adversity-related injuries and misclassification of these cases as accident-related injuries. This misclassification would attenuate the relative risks of death and re-admission for adversity-related compared with accident-related injury. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents discharged after an admission for violent, drug/alcohol-related, or self-inflicted injury have increased risks of subsequent harm up to a decade later. Introduction of preventive strategies for reducing subsequent harm after admission should be considered for all types of adversity-related injury, particularly for older adolescents