From Digital Library to Institutional Repository: A Brief Look at One Library’s Path

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the initial transformation of one academic library’s digital media library into the institutional repository (IR) of its entire academic organization. Design/methodology/approach – Description of an academic digital library’s evolution into an institutional repository, accompanied by both practical and philosophical analyses. Findings – Materials supporting an academic institution’s scholarship (from colleges and from supporting organizations on campus) can play an important part in the success of an institutional repository. Standards for metadata content, data structures and hierarchies of collections must be followed consistently, and adequate storage for digital media within an institutional repository is necessary to have in advance of anticipated demand for the smooth operation of the IR and continued access to materials. Gray areas between the role of an institutional repository and the role of that organization’s archives need to be addressed in the future. Practical implications – Academic libraries can be highly successful in producing an institute repository by developing relationships with various organizations on campus in addition to the academic programs. Maintaining standards throughout the IR is crucial to future growth in an organized and consistent manner. Philosophical considerations of the role of the IR should be addressed in the beginning stages of the development of the IR for eliminating confusion and duplication of its contents with other campus organizations. Originality/value – This paper describes the development of a digital library, created and maintained by an academic library, and its gradual change into a de facto institutional repository. Other libraries in the planning stages or initial steps of creating a campus-wide digital library or an institutional repository can benefit from the description of possible successes and problems that they could encounter during implementation

Resonant two-photon excitation of 1s paraexcitons in Cuprous Oxide

We have created paraexcitons in Cuprous Oxide via resonant two-photon generation, and examined their population dynamics by means of time-correlated single photon detection. Confining the excitons to a constant volume in a harmonic potential trap made with inhomogeneous applied stress along the [001] axis, we find that paraexcitons are created directly, and orthoexcitons appear primarily through the well-known excitonic Auger process. Hot excitons are also created via a three-photon process when the IR laser is non-resonant. Also we generate excitons with two colliding pulses, and the luminescence is weaker than that from one beam excitation with same total laser power. These results show that resonant one-beam two-photon generation of paraexcitons is a promising way to pursue Bose-Einstein condensation of paraexcitons.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

Characterization of a 6 MV photon beam in terms of primary and scattered dose components

The purpose of this work was to partition the 6 MV photon beam of a Philips SL75-5 linear accelerator into primary and scattered dose components in water. The two quantities that are necessary to define the primary beam component are a reference dose DR and a primary linear attenuation coefficient μ 0. DR describes the magnitude of the primary dose as a fraction of the total dose in a reference field at a reference depth, while μ 0 describes how the primary dose changes with depth in a medium. The scattered component is the difference between the primary and total dose. μ 0 for the beam in water was determined in four different ways, namely through the extrapolation of measured TMRs to zero field size, through linear attenuation measurements, through the fit of a convolution model to CAPDD data and through a method involving a central axis attenuator. The primary dose component was determined in two ways, namely by the extrapolation of the phantom scatter correction factor to zero field size and also by the central axis attenuator method. μ 0 varied from 0.0445 cm-1 to 0.0469 cm-1 with an average of 0.0455 +- 0.0012 cm-1. DR for a 10 cm x 10 cm field at the depth of maximum dose was found to vary between 0.933 Gy/ 100 MU and 0.935 Gy/ 100 MU, with an average of 0.934 Gy/ 100 MU. These values agree very well with values published in the literature. It has thus been shown that the 6 MV photon beam is separable into primary and scattered dose components

Long-term, gridded standardized precipitation index for Hawai‘i

Spatially explicit, wall-to-wall rainfall data provide foundational climatic information but alone are inadequate for characterizing meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, or ecological drought. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is one of the most widely used indicators of drought and defines localized conditions of both drought and excess rainfall based on period-specific (e.g., 1-month, 6-month, 12-month) accumulated precipitation relative to multi-year averages. A 93-year (1920–2012), high-resolution (250 m) gridded dataset of monthly rainfall available for the State of Hawai‘i was used to derive gridded, monthly SPI values for 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-month intervals. Gridded SPI data were validated against independent, station-based calculations of SPI provided by the National Weather Service. The gridded SPI product was also compared with the U.S. Drought Monitor during the overlapping period. This SPI product provides several advantages over currently available drought indices for Hawai‘i in that it has statewide coverage over a long historical period at high spatial resolution to capture fine-scale climatic gradients and monitor changes in local drought severity

Implementation of carbon fibre treatment couches in the XiO® and Monaco® Treatment Planning Systems

CITATION: Van Reenen, C. J. & Trauernicht, C. J. 2020. Implementation of carbon fibre treatment couches in the XiO® and Monaco® Treatment Planning Systems, Polish Journal of Medical Physics and Engineering, 26(4):211-215, doi:10.2478/pjmpe-2020-0025.The original publication is available at https://www.sciendo.comPurpose: Carbon fibre treatment couches on linear accelerators provide a strong, rigid framework for patient support. Patient safety is a priority, therefore the dosimetric properties of treatment couches need to be accurately incorporated in treatment plans, to minimize differences between planned and delivered dose. This study aims to determine the attenuation effect of treatment couches for 3-D Conformal Radiotherapy (3-D CRT) and to validate the implementation thereof in the XiO and Monaco treatment planning systems (TPS). Material and methods: Attenuation measurements were performed on the ELEKTA Connexion couches of the ELEKTA Precise and Synergy-Agility linear accelerators. Measurements were made at 10° intervals in RMI-457 Solid water (30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm) using a PTW Farmer-type ionization chamber (TW30013) positioned at the accelerator’s isocentre. The percentage attenuation was calculated as the ratio of the electrometer readings for parallelopposed fields. The Computed Tomography (CT) data sets of the set-ups were obtained on a Philips Big Bore 16-slice CT scanner and exported to the TPS. The individual couch structures were delineated and electron density (ED) values were assigned using the commissioned CT-to-ED curve. Test treatment plans were generated with 100MU per field at 10° gantry intervals. Results: The percentage attenuation was determined to be within 2% and 3% for beams perpendicular to the couch surface for XiO and Monaco, respectively. The maximum attenuation was observed for oblique fields which was significantly higher than the manufacturer specified values. TPS validation showed an agreement to 1% for XiO and Monaco. At extreme oblique angles, both planning systems overestimated this effect up to a maximum of 4%. Conclusions: Couch attenuation differs significantly with gantry angle and beam energy. As a result, the treatment couch models should be included in all treatment planning calculations.https://www.sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pjmpe-2020-0025Publisher's versio

Burnout in Daycare Centers and Its Association with Aspects of Job Satisfaction

Das Handlungspotenzial frühpädagogischer Fachkräfte nimmt eine bedeutende Rolle für die Qualität frühkindlicher Betreuung ein. Daher ist es beachtenswert, dass gerade diese Berufsgruppe besonders von den Symptomen betroffen ist, die klassischerweise einem Burnout zugeordnet werden. Die Zufriedenheit mit verschiedenen Arbeitsaspekten ermöglicht Hinweise auf potenzielle Ursachen für Burnout-Symptome und damit verbundene Interventionsmöglichkeiten. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht daher die Zusammenhänge zwischen verschiedenen Aspekten von Arbeitszufriedenheit und den Burnout-Dimensionen emotionale Erschöpfung, Depersonalisation und verringerte Leistungsfähigkeit, erfasst mit dem Maslach Burnout Inventar (Maslach & Jackson, 1981; deutsche Übersetzung: Büssing & Perrar, 1992). Datengrundlage bildet eine querschnittliche Online-Befragung von 346 frühpädagogischen Fachkräften aus Berliner Kitas (88,2% Frauen; MAlter = 43.13, SDAlter = 11.07). Regressionsanalysen zeigten, dass eine geringere Zufriedenheit mit der Zusammenarbeit im Team sowie mit den Eltern mit höheren Werten auf allen drei Burnout-Dimensionen einhergingen. Daneben wiesen die Analysen auf entgegengesetzte Zusammenhänge zwischen emotionaler Erschöpfung und der Zufriedenheit mit den Aufstiegschancen, den Arbeitszeiten und dem Arbeitslohn hin. Die Ergebnisse werden in Bezug auf Implikationen und Interventionsmöglichkeiten für die Praxis diskutiert.The capabilities of early childhood professionals play an important role in the quality of early childhood care. It is therefore worth noting that this professional group is particularly affected by symptoms classically assigned to burnout. Satisfaction with various job aspects points to potential causes for burnout symptoms and options for intervention. The present study examines the relationships between several aspects of job satisfaction and the dimensions of burnout emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment, as assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981; German translation by Büssing & Perrar, 1992). The data stem from a cross-sectional online questionnaire filled out by 346 early childhood professionals from Berlin daycare centers (88.2% females; MAge = 43.13, SDAge = 11.07). Regression analyses revealed that lower satisfaction with team collaboration and with parents was associated with higher values on all three burnout dimensions. Further, we found negative relationships between emotional exhaustion and satisfaction with career opportunities, working hours, and wages. The results are discussed in terms of the implications and intervention options for practice

Local and global pyrogeographic evidence that indigenous fire management creates pyrodiversity

Despite the challenges wildland fire poses to contemporary resource management, many fire-prone ecosystems have adapted over centuries to millennia to intentional landscape burning by people to maintain resources. We combine fieldwork, modeling, and a literature survey to examine the extent and mechanism by which anthropogenic burning alters the spatial grain of habitat mosaics in fire-prone ecosystems. We survey the distribution of Callitris intratropica, a conifer requiring long fire-free intervals for establishment, as an indicator of long-unburned habitat availability under Aboriginal burning in the savannas of Arnhem Land. We then use cellular automata to simulate the effects of burning identical proportions of the landscape under different fire sizes on the emergent patterns of habitat heterogeneity. Finally, we examine the global extent of intentional burning and diversity of objectives using the scientific literature. The current distribution of Callitris across multiple field sites suggested long-unburnt patches are common and occur at fine scales (<0.5 ha), while modeling revealed smaller, patchy disturbances maximize patch age diversity, creating a favorable habitat matrix for Callitris. The literature search provided evidence for intentional landscape burning across multiple ecosystems on six continents, with the number of identified objectives ranging from two to thirteen per study. The fieldwork and modeling results imply that the occurrence of long-unburnt habitat in fire-prone ecosystems may be an emergent property of patch scaling under fire regimes dominated by smaller fires. These findings provide a model for understanding how anthropogenic burning alters spatial and temporal aspects of habitat heterogeneity, which, as the literature survey strongly suggests, warrant consideration across a diversity of geographies and cultures. Our results clarify how traditional fire management shapes fire-prone ecosystems, which despite diverse objectives, has allowed human societies to cope with fire as a recurrent disturbance